


The Return

by inukagome15



Series: The Return [1]
Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: Action/Adventure, Drama, F/M, Friendship, Humor, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-06-22
Updated: 2012-07-03
Packaged: 2017-11-08 08:27:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 84,687
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/441189
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inukagome15/pseuds/inukagome15
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the asteroid, Danny Fenton is having trouble adjusting to his new popularity. The frequent ghost attacks aren't helping matters either. But what happens when an enemy from his past, or rather his future, returns?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first story of a trilogy. It was one of my earliest works, and it shows in the writing. I'm planning a rewrite of it, though I haven't gotten very far.

“DANNY!” a mob of excited voices called.

Sixteen-year-old Danny Fenton stopped in his tracks and turned around to see a crowd of fan girls closing him in. He sighed as he realized that he would again be late to school.

It had been several weeks since he, Amity Park’s town hero, had recruited hundreds of ghosts to turn the earth intangible to allow an enormous asteroid to phase right through. Since then, he had trouble adjusting to his new popularity with the girls.

“Will you go out with me?!” several voices cried out.

“Sorry.” Danny put his hands up and backed away. “I’m taken.”

It was true that he was taken as Samantha Manson, a Gothic girl who helped his ghost half capture ghosts, was his newfound girlfriend.

“Now if you’ll excuse me”—the raven-haired teenager backed up some more—“I’m going to be late to school.”

The halfa ran away as soon as he finished his sentence, the fan girls hot on his tail. His earlier remark hadn’t even fazed them. In fact, it seemed to fuel their desire.

‘ _Oh, well,_ ’ he thought, ‘ _at least the reporters have stopped bugging me._ ’

After he had first revealed his secret, Danny and his family had been plagued by the pests. But due to a little “persuasion” on Danny’s part, they left the Fentons alone. At least, that was what Danny thought. He never knew when an incognito reporter would show up and ask him questions disguised as friendly remarks. When that happened, he normally got a nasty shock the next day when he saw the newspaper.

* * *

**Ten minutes later…**

“You’re late, Mr. Fenton,” Mr. Lancer, his overweight teacher said.

“Sorry,” the boy puffed out. Not wanting to transform into his ghost half, he had taken all the back routes he knew to evade the crazy girls.

“You know,” the teacher continued, “you _could_ have taken the limo.” He pointed out the window to a long, sleek car parked outside.

“I wanted to walk,” Danny muttered, sitting down and putting down his backpack.

“In any case”—Mr. Lancer turned back to the board—“as I was saying before, the Middle Ages are steeped in folklore. You won’t have much trouble finding stories about brave knights vanquishing dragons from those days.”

“How are the fan girls?” Tucker Foley, Danny’s best friend, asked. This inconspicuous African American boy was also Amity Park’s mayor.

“Crazy,” Danny whispered, winking at Sam, who was seated behind him. Before Tucker could reply, a blue wisp escaped from Danny’s mouth. It was his ghost sense.

“BEWARE!” a loud voice shouted. Everyone, except for Danny and his friends, jumped. “For I am the Box Ghost!” A chubby blue man phased through the board Mr. Lancer had been writing on, thoroughly shocking the pot-bellied man. “Beware of my cardboard boxes of doom!” he shouted, flailing his arms.

“Not you again,” Danny groaned, aware that all eyes were on him. He got up after taking a thermos out from his backpack. “Can’t you annoy me some other time?”

“I am the Box Ghost!” the ghost repeated. “You cannot trap me in your cylindrical container!”

“Wanna bet?”

A blue light was emitted from the thermos and trapped the Box Ghost. The annoying ghost was sucked in forcefully with a wail. Danny hadn’t even bothered to transform during the encounter.

“Woo-hoo!” Dash Baxter, school bully and football jock, cheered. The rest of the class followed.

“They have no idea what kind of ghosts you’ve had to fight,” Sam said amidst the noise.

“Yeah. Remember Plasmius?” Tucker reminded them.

“He’s stuck in space last time I checked,” Danny commented.

“Quiet, class!” Mr. Lancer called.

No one listened. They were all too busy cheering for Danny.

The next few minutes were then wasted as the teacher attempted to get the class under control again.

‘ _It’s going to be another long day,_ ’ the three friends realized.

* * *

 “Jack!” Madeline Fenton scolded. She glared at her large husband. “That’s tonight’s dinner so keep your hands off!”

Jack guiltily removed his hand from the meatloaf.

“Now, sweetie, why don’t you work on one of our projects?”

“Good idea, Maddie!” Jack brightened up. “I’ve got this belt I’ve been working on that’ll be sure to help Danny during his ghost fighting!” He held up a silvery belt that had various storage units, including one for the Fenton Thermos Danny always carried around.

“That’s nice, Jack. Make sure that it’ll tune in with his powers.” Maddie turned back to the cake she was attempting to bake. “You don’t want his location to be given away when he’s invisible if that belt doesn’t turn invisible, too, without his conscious desire.”

“Another good idea!” Jack ran down the stairs to the lab. “I’ll get working on that straight away!”

“Now, to make sure that the cake doesn’t try to eat _us_ ,” Maddie said, reaching for the sugar.

* * *

 “Thank goodness that’s over,” Danny told his friends. They were outside the school sitting on a tree branch after school was over. “Wanna fly home?”

“Actually, if it’s all right with you,” Tucker said, jumping down, “I’d like to take the limo. Not that your flying is bad or anything, dude,” he added hastily, seeing Danny’s face. “It’s just that I’ve got some stuff to take care of.”

“Okay,” Danny said. He turned to Sam and was relieved to see her eager face.

“I’d _love_ to go flying with you. Just don’t crash into any helicopters, okay?” Sam said.

“Will do.” With that, a bluish-white ring formed around Danny’s waist. It split into two and one went up while the other went down, changing his shirt and blue jeans into a black jumpsuit with a DP emblem on the chest. His black hair changed into white and his normally blue eyes transformed into an electric green. To top it all off, his whole entire body glowed with a bluish-white ghostly aura. “I’ll turn us both invisible and intangible. That should serve us well.”

Danny held Sam around the waist and lifted them off the ground, leaving Tucker behind, clutching his PDA.

“Hey!” Tucker protested. “What about me?” Then he slapped his hand to his forehead, remembering. “Oh, yeah, I didn’t want to go. Chauffeur!”

“You called?” a gray-haired man arrived at the young mayor’s side in an instant.

“Take me to the Town Hall, will you? I’ve got some stuff to take care of.”

“Yes, sir.”

 

* * *

 

Deep within the Ghost Zone, a familiar mechanical ghost floated in the air, the endless green space serving as his background. He was studying his cannons at the moment and seemed unaware of his girlfriend, Ember, floating with him.

“So when are you going to get him?” Ember said, bored. She looked like a punk teenager except that her eyes were green and her hair looked like bluish-white flames.

“Soon,” Skulker grunted. His hair was a fiery green. “I have only a few more supplies needed before that ghost boy’s pelt adorns my walls.”

“Whatever.” Ember rolled her eyes. “Just try not to make a mess.”

“Out of the town or the boy?”

“The boy. The town I couldn’t care less about,” Ember said. “I don’t want his ectoplasm all over our floors.”

“I’ll do my best. That is, if he doesn’t resist too much.”

Ember raised an eyebrow. “Why do I have trouble believing you?”

Skulker only grinned and shot a rock that looked suspiciously Danny’s ghost form. He blasted it to smithereens. His laugh echoed through the Ghost Zone as his prey flew through the sky, holding his girlfriend safely to his side. Neither could have known what the Ghost Zone’s greatest hunter had in store for a certain halfa.


	2. Skulker's Attack

Danny Phantom, Danny Fenton’s alter ego, flew through the blue sky with his girlfriend. His black suit had white gloves and white shoes to match with his white hair. Both of them were enjoying the breeze blowing through their intangible bodies as Danny flew them through the air to Sam’s house.

A few minutes later he landed on the threshold.

“See you later?” Danny asked.

“Definitely,” Sam replied, smiling. They kissed once and Danny flew off. Sam unlocked her door and opened it to step inside. “I’m home!”

“There you are, Samantha,” her red-haired mother said. She was dressed in, typically, a pink, frilly dress that made Sam want to gouge her eyes out. “I wanted you try out this dress I got you.” She held up a yellow dress with smiley faces on it.

“Oh God, Mom, _no_ ,” Sam protested, horrified. “I am _so_ not wearing that.” She backed up.

“Do it for Danny, sweetie,” Pamela Manson persisted.

“He doesn’t like me in those dresses either,” the Goth girl muttered. She shifted herself past her mother and ran up the stairs to arrive safely in her room.

Sam closed her door with a sigh of relief. She didn’t notice the shadow on her bedroom wall and when she did look it had disappeared.

* * *

 

 “DANNY!” Jack roared. He clapped his half-ghost son on the back so violently that he fell face-first onto the floor. “Oops.”

“I’m fine, Dad,” Danny mumbled. He got up and brushed his shirt off.

“Anyway, son, I wanted you to see this cool belt I’m making you!” Jack proudly held up his invention.

“Wow.” Danny inspected it. “It’s not another one of those Specter Deflector things, is it?”

“Of course not!” Jack said, shocked. “Why would you think I’d make you something like that?”

“No reason.” ‘ _Other than the fact that you sometimes forget **I’m** vulnerable to them, too._ ’

“In any case, try it on.”

Danny transformed into his ghost mode and clipped the belt on. It fit snugly around his waist and did not jangle or make any sound. He turned invisible and the belt turned invisible, too.

“Nice, Dad!” Danny transformed back and the belt disappeared with his ghost half.

“Wait, son. Come down with me to the lab!” Jack motioned for Danny to follow him, which he did.

“Look at all these gadgets!” Jack said proudly, showing Danny the wide range of ghost fighting equipment he had invented. “Your new belt will have space for most of them.”

“Really?” Danny picked up a green and white stick. He accidentally pressed a button and the device activated, electrocuting him. “Aaah!” It stopped as soon as Danny dropped it. He attempted to flatten his hair. “Great idea, Dad. How am I supposed to use that if it electrocutes _me_ as well?”

“Funny, that wasn’t supposed to happen,” Jack said, frowning. He picked up the stick. “I’ll have to tune it in with your ectoplasmic signature so that it doesn’t do it anymore.”

“You do that,” Danny said. “And I’ll get out of here before something else electrocutes me.” He dashed up the stairs.

Jack picked up a screwdriver and a vial full of some green liquid, and started to fiddle around with the device that had electrocuted his son.

Meanwhile, Danny ran into the kitchen to find his mother in a full blown war with the egg beater.

“Uh, Mom? Mind telling me what’s going on?” Danny peered over his mother’s shoulder and saw that she was having trouble getting the mixture she was beating to a pulp to stay inside the bowl.

“Oh, everything’s fine, sweetie,” she said. She accidentally pressed a switch on the beater. The next thing both of them knew was that Danny was covered from head to foot in yolk, flour, and milk.

“Okay. So not what I was expecting.” Danny closed his eyes and turned intangible. The mess on him fell to the floor. “Did you want to bake a cake?”

“Yes, Danny,” Maddie said. “I can’t get this thing”—she waved the beater around, frustrated, and sprayed Danny some more—“to submit.”

“That may have something to do with the fact that you have it on high,” Danny pointed out.

“Nonsense,” Maddie scoffed. She started to fill up the bowl to the brim with eggs, flour, and milk again. Danny had the sneaking suspicion that she had been doing that for most of the day. It would explain the fact as to why the kitchen looked like an egg graveyard. “If I didn’t know how to bake a cake I couldn’t call myself a cook.”

“I didn’t know you called yourself a cook.”

“It comes with the job,” Maddie stated.

“Keep baking. I’m going to do my rounds,” Danny said. He transformed into Phantom and phased through the ceiling.

Maddie sighed and attacked the mixture with the beater again, this time dirtying her jumpsuit thoroughly and destroying the bowl as the beater seemed to have grown knives.

* * *

Danny, in ghost form, flew through the brisk night air, doing another one of his rounds. He seemed stressed out and he had good reason to be as dinner had not exactly gone well…

_Flashback:_

**“Hey, Mom, hey, Dad,” Danny said, sitting down. “What’s for dinner?”**

**“Meatloaf, peas, and rice,” Maddie said, bringing in a bowl of peas. “Oh, and guess what?” Danny looked questioningly at her. “I made a cake!” she said proudly.**

**“Great, Mom!” Danny then asked suspiciously, “It’s not radioactive or anything is it?”**

**“Of course not!”**

**“Sure,” Danny’s older sister, Jazz, said. She had her long, orange hair held behind her by a headband. “I _totally_ believe you.”**

**“Anyway, how did the rounds go, Danny, my boy?” Jack asked enthusiastically.**

**“Great,” Danny said, reaching for his glass. “Didn’t find any ghosts.”**

**“Oh, and about that stick,” Jack continued, holding it up, “I fixed it! You can use it now.”**

**Danny took it and pressed the button. Surprisingly, it didn’t shock him. After thanking his dad for fixing it, he put it on the floor besides his chair and dinner commenced.**

**Ten minutes later, everyone was ready for dessert and Maddie brought in the cake she had managed to successfully bake. It was a chocolate masterpiece with chocolate icing and sprinkles and strawberries decorated the top. She set it on the table proudly and chose a long, elegant knife to make the cut.**

**Suddenly, Danny’s ghost sense went off. He said, “Ghost.”**

**“Where?!” Jack shouted, nearly knocking the table down in his eagerness.**

**“I don’t know,” Danny said, confused. He couldn’t see a ghost but yet he knew there was one.**

**The ghost revealed itself when the cake _moved._ It then _got up, grew two legs, two eyes, two arms, and a mouth and walked over to the halfa._**

**“Do you have _any_ idea how much it hurts if you do that?!” it quipped.**

**Danny blinked and said, “What are you supposed to be? A cake ghost?”**

**It seemed to brighten up. “Say, that’s not a bad idea.” It started waving its arms around in a manner similar to the Box Ghost. “Beware! I am the Cake Ghost!”**

**“Oh, good grief,” Danny muttered. He noted his mother’s horrified look. “What you put in it, Mom? Ectoplasm?”**

**“No, but the beater _did_ grow knives when I was mixing it.”**

**“Do you mind?” Jazz said, looking at the still waving cake. “We’re trying to relax here.”**

**“BEWARE!” the cake shouted. “I am the Cake Ghost! Shake in fear at my awesome--”**

**“Power at making other people feel sick?” Danny suggested.**

**“Shake in fear at my awesome power at making other people feel sick!” the Cake Ghost repeated.**

**“How dumb can one get?” Danny commented. “Thermos, please.”**

**“Here.” Jazz threw him the thermos and he promptly sucked in the wannabe Cake Ghost.**

**“Sorry, Mom,” Danny apologized, seeing Maddie’s face.**

**“It’s all right, sweetie,” she said. “Although, I can’t understand how it turned into a ghost. It was fine when I put it into the oven.”**

**“Maybe there’s some ectoplasm in there,” Danny said. “I know you like to experiment. You might have shoved something in there that was covered with ectoplasmic residue and it exploded.”**

**“Now that you mention it, there was the time that the oven exploded in a green light and the kitchen looked sick, too,” Jazz said.**

**“I have to do my rounds again,” Danny said.**

**“It’s eight o’clock, young man. Be home at ten,” Maddie said.**

**“Dad? You don’t mind emptying out the thermos for me, do you?” Danny asked. “I caught the Box Ghost today and he’s still stuck in it.” And seeing Jack’s happy glance at the thermos he added sternly, “And don’t try to eat the cake. It _is_ a ghost and might make you sick.”**

**He went out and got another thermos in case he ran into another ghost on his rounds. Danny then phased through the door and flew off.**

**Jack looked at the thermos his son had left behind greedily. Jazz noted the look and knew that it did not bode well.**

_End Flashback._

“I hope he listened and didn’t eat it,” Danny muttered. “It’d give him a serious digestive problem.”

Without warning, his ghost sense went off. He stopped in midair and looked around. The source was revealed as an obnoxious blue ghost.

“BEWARE!” the Box Ghost shouted. “My cardboard boxes of doom will destroy you!”

“How’d you get out?” Danny raised an eyebrow.

The Box Ghost had to think about that for a moment. He scratched his forehead and his chin and then said, “No cylindrical container can trap me! Now prepare to meet your doom!”

“Somehow, I doubt that’s the truth,” Danny said, dodging a couple of crates that had appeared. “Here you go.” He flicked off the cap of the Fenton Thermos and sucked the Box Ghost in. “Well, that was easy.” Danny flew off again to continue his rounds. He was almost finished.

About another five minutes had passed and Danny was heading home for curfew since it was fifteen minutes to ten. He was stopped by his ghost sense activating. He shivered once and looked around for the source. It was revealed to be a grinning Skulker in a gleaming mechanical suit.

“Hello, ghost child,” Skulker said, still grinning. “Still alive, I see.”

“Why do you ask?” Danny asked, floating a safe distance away. “Do you expect me to drop dead?”

“No, but it would make my job a lot easier if more dull,” Skulker remarked, shooting at the teen.

Danny effortlessly dodged it and he said, “Same old, same old, tin can.” He saw Skulker’s eyebrow twitch and he grinned mischievously. “Oh, what’s wrong, tin can? Did I touch a nerve?”

“You will pay for that, ghost child!” Skulker snapped, bringing out a barrage of guns and firing them all at Danny. The halfa merely turned intangible and continued grinning.

“Metal head,” Danny said simply. He flipped himself upside down and grinned at the angry hunter from between his legs. “Gee, you’re as dumb as a dodo. Or is the phrase as dead as a dodo?”

“Fine then,” Skulker said. He took out a thingamajig that looked suspiciously like a thermos. “I hadn’t wanted to use this, but, if you insist on insulting me, I’ll enjoy using your own technology against you.”

Danny’s eyes widened and he corrected his stance hurriedly. “Is that what I think it is?”

“Correct, child, it is a Fenton Thermos!” Skulker said proudly. He opened the lid and pointed it at the halfa. It sparked, fizzled, and made a few popping sounds before going dead. The hunter shook it, frustrated. “Why. Doesn’t. This. Thing. Work?” he grunted, shaking it even more.

Danny raised an eyebrow. “Okay, so maybe that didn’t go like you planned it.” He smirked and opened his own thermos. “But mine works just as well if not better.” A blue light beam enveloped the hunter before he could move and sucked him into the thermos. Danny then sighed and ran a gloved hand through his white hair. “If that had worked I’d been in trouble. Now, how’d the Box Ghost escape from the Ghost Zone again?”

“BEWARE!” A black thing flew up besides Danny. “I am the Cake Ghost!”

“Oh, not again,” Danny groaned. His green eyes then noticed that a large chunk was missing from it. “What happened? Sugar rush get to you?”

“I will make you feast till you die of sickness!” the pathetic ghost cackled. Some sweets started to hover around it much to Danny’s amusement.

“Don’t tell me Dad tried to eat you,” Danny said.

“Dad?” The cake stopped for a moment and scratched its icing off absentmindedly. “Do you mean that great big lump of an oaf in an orange suit that tried to gobble me down?” It cackled madly. “I am the Cake Ghost! No mere human can stand up to meeee—” The last part was a drawn out wail as Danny exasperatedly sucked the annoying thing into his thermos.

“That was a waste of effort,” the ghost boy muttered. He then realized that it was only a minute to curfew. “Oh no! I’m going to be late!” He flew off to the Fenton Works, not seeing the dark shadow illuminated in the clock’s face. It flickered once before disappearing.

Danny arrived at his door on the dot of ten and managed to get a few irate glares from Maddie but no yelling as Jack seemed to have come down with a mysterious stomachache. He was also looking strangely green.

“He ate the cake, didn’t he?” he whispered to Jazz, who nodded. “I _told_ him not to.”

“That’s the thing about him,” Jazz said tiredly. “He doesn’t listen when it comes to sweets.”

“Too true.” Danny held out the thermos. “Now I better go empty out this thing.”

He phased through the floor to land in the lab. He put the thermos in a device right next to the portal and emptied it. The ghosts he had captured earlier vanished into the eerie green depths of the Ghost Portal. Even the annoying cake had gone.

“Well, that’s done.” He stifled a yawn. “Now to bed.” He went upstairs.

In the Ghost Zone, a very mad Skulker was still rattling the defective piece of technology he had passed off as a Fenton Thermos.

“Mark my words, ghost boy,” he muttered, twiddling the cap around. It resulted in a mini explosion that left the ghost hunter with a black face. “As soon as I fix this accursed thing I’m going after you.” He held in his hands the remnants of the “thermos.” “Hmm. Now how do I fix this thing?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Cake Ghost is one of my original characters. You'll be seeing it (him?) around a lot. XD


	3. The Guys in White and Technus

“Danny, you don’t look too good,” Sam said, observing Danny’s bags under his eyes.

“You wouldn’t look good either if you had to get up at three in the morning to trap the Cake Ghost for about the hundredth time,” Danny said tiredly.

“The Cake Ghost?” Sam and Tucker asked in unison.

“Don’t ask.” Danny rolled his eyes. “That stupid thing is so annoying I just wish that a ghost in the Ghost Zone would eat it up.”

“It’s eatable?” Tucker asked, confused.

“As eatable as a ghost can be.” Danny rubbed his eyes. “Not to mention the Box Ghost visited a couple of times, too.”

“I don’t get it, dude,” Tucker said, swallowing his morsel of food. “Why not let your parents get them?”

“You’ve seen them in action, right?”

“Yeah, so?”

Danny sighed and said his next sentence as he would to a toddler, “You do know how bad their aim is, right?”

“Uh—”

“How can you _not_ remember that time when Ember got out again?” Sam smacked Tucker’s head with her lunch box and instantly regretted it when the rotten bananas that had been in there splattered all over Danny. “Oh, sorry, Danny.”

_Flashback:_

**“Take this note, dipstick!” Ember shouted stringing her guitar. She brushed her hand down the instrument and an array of pink colored notes blasted into Danny.**

**“Ouch.” Danny picked himself up from the ground. He flew up into the air. “That didn’t hurt as much as usual, Ember. Is your guitar out of tune?”**

**“Not as much as your voice, dipstick!” Ember said, twiddling the dial on her guitar to a blue fist.**

**“Dipstick again? Who wrote that down?” Danny dodged the blue fists that were aimed towards him.**

**Danny fired up an ectoplasmic blast. But before he could release it, something slammed into the halfa and sent him flying into a nearby building. After the object stopped, it was revealed to be the Specter Speeder and Jack Fenton opened the door.**

**“Danny! Need some help?!”**

**Danny Phantom pushed off a slab that had fallen onto him and glared at his father. “Actually, I was doing fine on my own.”**

**“Well, I thought for sure that you’d need some help!”**

**“Come on, sweetie.” Maddie poked her head through the door, too. “Let us help.”**

**Ember smirked and said, “Having family troubles, dipstick?”**

**“Eat the Fenton ecto-gun, ghost!” Jack shouted, shooting Ember with a green ray from a gun. She dodged it. “Suffering spooks!”**

**Danny again fired up an ecto blast and met Ember up in the sky. Too bad he didn’t notice the green blast firing up from behind.**

**“Danny! Look out!” Sam’s and Tucker’s voices made him turn around. It was too late as his dad’s ecto-gun hit him square in the chest.**

**Danny flew backwards, hit a very surprised Ember, and both of them crashed into a car. Before Ember could recover, Danny had sucked her into the Fenton Thermos. Needless to say, he wasn’t very happy.**

**“Great job, son! You defeated the ghost!” Jack said proudly. Maddie looked nervously on as she knew Danny wasn’t very happy.**

**“Dad.” Jack paid attention to his half-ghost son. “You do know that you just hit me with that gun? And you do also know that I can deal with a simple ghost, right?” Jack nodded, wondering where this was going. “THEN STOP INTERFERING!” Danny yelled.**

**“But why?”**

**“Why?” Danny gestured to his surroundings. There was a building whose top half was completely in rubble, courtesy of a Specter Speeder that had crashed into Danny. There was also a wrecked green Mercedes due to Jack’s erratic aim with his ecto-gun. “Look what you did!” He sighed and said in a softer voice, “I’ve been doing this for months, all right? Just because you recently found out that I’m a half-ghost doesn’t mean you have to worry excessively, all right?”**

**“All right, Danny,” Maddie said, shoving her husband back into the vehicle. “We’ll try to be a little more careful from now on. Just don’t get into any trouble.”**

**“I won’t.”**

**“Why, hello, ghost child.” Danny froze and turned around to see Skulker floating about ten feet above him. “I have come to personally—aaah!” Danny had flown into the hunter in an effort to shut him up before he made any attempts and threats on the ghost boy’s life and made his parents overprotective again.**

**“GHOST!” Jack fired the gun but hit Danny, again. It propelled the already moving teen ghost even further and caused both ghosts to crash into an office window. And unfortunately for Danny, that office was filled with supermodels.**

**“It’s Phantom!” they all squealed and ran over to him before he could deal with a very dazed Skulker. As for Jack? He was struggling with a malfunctioning Specter Speeder that suddenly dove headfirst to the ground and narrowly missed squashing Sam and Tucker.**

_End Flashback._

“Oh, yeah, I see what you mean,” Tucker said. “That memory still gives me nightmares. Seriously, your dad was _this_ close to making meat out of Sam and me.” He showed a small distance between his index and thumb.

“So they’ve stopped bothering you?” Sam asked.

“As best as they can.” Danny took a bite of his sandwich. “I still jump whenever Skulker shows up since he always brags about hanging my pelt up on his wall or having it rest at the foot of his bed. That’s bound to get my parents act up again.” He rolled his eyes and continued, “Not to mention he showed up with his own thermos last night.”

“Really, Danny?” Sam was alarmed. “You know that spells trouble for you. You better tread cautiously.”

“Relax, Sam. That thing is defective.”

“Okay, back to the Cake Ghost. Is that a new ghost?” Tucker inquired.

Danny said in a rather deep voice, “ ‘Beware!’ Wait, that’s not right.” He cleared his throat and said his next line in a high squeaky voice. “ ‘Beware! I am the Cake Ghost!’ ”

“Déjà vu. Isn’t that like the Box Ghost?”

“You’d think so.” Danny’s ghost sense went off. “Oh, great.”

“Where is it?” Sam looked under the table. “No one has screamed ‘GHOST!’ yet.”

“Oh, there it is.” Danny pointed to an innocent cake on the table.

“Um, isn’t that a cake?” Tucker sniffed it.

“Nope.” Danny sighed as the cake sprouted arms and legs. “Guys, meet the Cake Ghost.”

“BEWARE!” the ghost shouted in its squeaky voice. “Fear me! I am the Cake Ghost! Behold my awesome power at making other people feel sick!”

“Um, who wrote that guy’s lines?” Tucker whispered to Danny.

“I did,” Danny whispered back.

The Cake Ghost cackled madly and floated off the table. Heads were starting to turn towards Danny’s table.

“Come on, man!” Dash called to Danny. “Go ghost!”

“There’s no way I’m going ghost for him,” Danny muttered. He took out the thermos he always carried around. “Here, eat this.” He sucked in the Cake ghost before it could even react. “Now, let’s go back to class and enjoy the rest of the day.”

Dash came over to Danny and said, “You wanna go sit with us?” He gestured to the popular kids’ table where the halfa could see Paulina waving to him and batting her eyelashes.

“Heh. No thanks, Dash. It’s a bit more private here.”

When Dash had left Danny said to his friends, “Being a superhero has its pleasant side effects but I prefer it here with you guys.”

“Aw, how sweet of you, Danny,” Sam said.

“Hey, I try.” Danny shrugged.

The bell rang for class then and the trio gathered their stuff and left the cafeteria still talking about various ghosts and whatnot. Meanwhile, a chubby blue ghost in overalls phased through the ceiling and looked at the empty room.

“Hey!” the Box Ghost complained. “What does a ghost have to do get some respect around here?! Oh, well, beware!” He flew around, lifting up boxes, and turning the whole cafeteria in a huge mess.

* * *

 “I expect an essay on the habits of people from the Middle Ages due on Wednesday,” Mr. Lancer said. “You have the whole weekend.”

“School’s out!” Kwan, Dash’s best friend, cheered.

“Let’s go pick on some defenseless nerd!” Dash suggested. The two agreed and ran out past three relieved friends.

“Another pleasant side effect,” Danny said. “At least Dash doesn’t pick on us anymore.”

“You mean, at least he doesn’t pick on _you_ anymore,” Sam corrected with a wry grin.

“Too true.”

“Hey, wanna go catch a movie?” Tucker asked. “I don’t have anything important to care of today so I’m free.”

“Love to,” the two lovers replied.

“Mr. Fenton!” Mr. Lancer rushed into the classroom. “Mind explaining why the cafeteria is a complete mess?”

“Uh, I have no idea?” Danny said weakly.

“And why are there boxes floating all over the place?”

“The Box Ghost.” Danny rubbed his eyes. “Be right back, guys.”

He grabbed the thermos which he had used on the Cake Ghost earlier and left a very stressed out teacher with his two friends.

“So,” Tucker said, trying to fill the silence, “what’s so interesting about the Middle Ages?”

Mr. Lancer frowned at the African American boy. “If you had paid attention in class, Mayor Foley, you’d know.”

“What’s interesting about the Middle Ages, Tucker, is that they’re completely surrounded with myths about dragons and knights!” Sam said, waving her arms. “Gee, you should know that. Even a dummy has read legends about King Arthur or the wizard Merlin.”

“Hey, I don’t need to be interested in a history full of myths when we’re living in an era that is in a myth.” Tucker turned to his beloved PDA. “Don’t you agree, baby?”

Sam muttered something unpleasant about immature techno geeks and then said, “What do you mean by that?”

“Hello?” Tucker waved a hand in front of the Goth’s face. “Ghosts? Half-ghosts? We’re living the stuff of legends! I could just as well write a paper on the ghost king Danny fought.”

“Then why don’t you, Mayor Foley?” Mr. Lancer asked.

Tucker stopped fiddling with his beloved technology and started stuttering. “M-Me? W-Write a paper on the g-g-ghost king?” He shook his head and backed up. “Ask Danny. He’s the one who fought him.”

“But you fight with him so you should know.”

Tucker chuckled nervously and gulped at Sam’s wicked smile. “Uh, see, the thing is—heh—I did go through a brief history lesson with the ghosts but I—heh—forgot.”

“You’d best remember what they talked about, Mayor Foley, and shape up to write that paper on the ghost king,” Mr. Lancer said with a stiff smile. “And no asking Mr. Fenton for help.”

“Stupid Box Ghost,” Danny muttered, coming in.

“Don’t tell me the _Box Ghost_ gave you trouble,” Sam said.

“Eh? No, why’d you ask?”

“Because you’re covered with food.”

“I am?” Danny looked down on his shirt and pant, which was covered with last Friday’s mystery lunch and Monday’s disgusting meatloaf. “Eurgh. Gross.” He turned intangible and the mess fell onto the floor. “That stupid ghost kept throwing boxes at me and one of them blasted right in my face when I tried to destroy it.”

“No helping Mayor Foley on his essay, Mr. Fenton.” Mr. Lancer sat behind his desk.

“Why would I help him?” Danny looked bewildered.

“Danny,” Sam hissed. Her boyfriend looked at her.”Let’s go before Mr. Lancer decides to tell you to clean up that mess you made.”

Before Mr. Lancer could even tell Danny to get the mop, Sam had grabbed both Danny’s and Tucker’s arms and ran off.

The stupefied teacher remained bewildered for a couple minutes before crying out, “Moby Dick, Mr. Fenton! Clean this mess up right now!”

 

* * *

 

 “DAD!” Jazz bellowed.

Her dad stopped sneaking around behind Jazz and stood guiltily. “Um, yes, Jazzy?”

Jazz tapped her pencil on her desk, irritated. “Okay, first off, it’s not ‘Jazzy’ but ‘Jazz’. Second off, don’t sneak around in my room! And third off, if you’re that concerned about Danny, GO FIND HIM YOURSELF!”

Jack scuttled out of the room like a frightened rabbit. Jazz sighed and ran a hand through her orange hair. Finally, some quiet.

“Heh. Who said I was worried about Danny anyway?” Jack muttered. “I’m sure he’s just dandy.” He arrived in the kitchen to find his wife hard at work on some calculations. “Isn’t that right, Maddie?”

“Huh?” Maddie arose out of her math-induced stupor. “Oh, yes, sweetie.” She sunk back into her stupor, not having heard a word.

“Yup. He’s just dandy,” Jack continued. “In fact, he’s so dandy that I’m not worried about him at all! Nope, not me, sirree!” Suddenly, Jack barreled down into the lab to run up, armed to the teeth with guns. “I’m coming, Danny!” He ran out of the house.

“Did something happen?” Maddie asked, confused, looking around the empty kitchen. “Oh, well, it’s probably nothing.” She turned her attention back to the endless pages of math before her.

* * *

 

“Uh, what’d Mr. Lancer not want me to help you with?” Danny inquired.

“Actually”—Tucker smiled—“he wanted you to not not help me!”

“Er, ‘not not help you’?” Danny repeated, confused.

“What Tucker means, Danny,” Sam explained, “is that Mr. Lancer wanted you to help Tucker. Which is quite the opposite of what Mr. Lancer _really_ wants.”

“Okay, now I’m officially and utterly confused,” Danny muttered. “Besides, how can I help Tucker anyway?”

“Easy. You know about the ghost king, right?” Tucker grinned.

“You mean Pariah Dark? Yeah I know him. What about it?”

“I have to do an essay on him courtesy of Mr. Lancer’s temper.”

“No, you have to do it courtesy of your big mouth,” Sam corrected.

“Don’t you remember Skulker’s little history lesson?” Danny reminded Tucker.

“Heh. I didn’t really pay attention.” Tucker put his arm around his best friend’s shoulder. “But you, my friend, probably remember every single word, don’t you?”

“Don’t even think about it, Danny,” Sam warned. “I’m going to keep my eye on both of you so zip it till Wednesday, Danny!”

“All right.” Danny shrugged. “If you want help, Tuck, you should go to the ghosts.”

“Did someone say ghosts?” voices cried behind the friends.

Danny froze. “Oh no.” He turned around to see his loyal pack of fan girls behind them. “Not them again.”

“GHOST BOY!” girls squealed. They started a mad stampede towards Danny and his friends.

“I am _so_ outta here.” Danny turned tail and ran, his friends right behind him.

“Uh, why don’t you go ghost and fly?” Tucker suggested. Danny pointed upwards and Tucker followed his finger to see the helicopters with cameras following their every move. “Oh.”

“Invisibility and intangibility, Danny!” Sam said.

“Worth a shot.” Danny transformed, much to the delight of the girls behind him and the reporters in the air. He grabbed his friends and took off into the air, turning both invisible and intangible as he did so.

“Aww!” Danny heard the dismayed cries of the fan girls below him.

“You sure about this?” Tucker looked in dismay at the revolving helicopter blades. “Those things look scary.”

“Relax, Tuck. We’re intangible, too, so nothing should happen.” Danny flew them through a helicopter.

“Stop, ghost boy!” a voice called them, causing Danny to turn around to see a couple of Guys in White agents with a jetpacks.

“Not them, too.” Danny did a quick evasive maneuver, all the while still invisible but the men still followed them.

“Oh, Danny?” Sam moaned. “I don’t feel so good. Can you stop doing that?”

“Sorry, Sam.” Danny pulled them to a halt in the air and turned visible since he knew the men had goggles on to see him even if he was invisible.

“Relax, Phantom, we don’t want to hurt you,” said an agent.

“Said the cougar to the rabbit,” Danny said skeptically. “Since did you _not_ want to hurt me?”

“Since you saved the world from the asteroid!” said another agent.

“Yeah.” Agent #1 took out a marker. “We just want you to give us your autograph!”

“Or we’ll shoot you to death,” added another agent, taking out a gun.

Danny blinked. “Ooookay?” He took the proffered marker after giving Tucker to Sam to hold. “Where should I sign?”

“Gee, Tucker, you weigh a ton,” Sam grumbled. “You need to lie off on the meat.”

“Meat gives me energy,” Tucker scoffed. “Besides, there’s no reason for you to hold me.”

“Okay, then. Why are you holding my waist like a little baby?”

“Because it’s scary!”

Sam rolled her eyes while Danny signed some autographs, all the while nervously eyeing the agent with the gun.

“Is that everything?” Danny asked, signing the last clipboard.

“No. Next are our suits!”

“Um, let me drop off my friends real quick.” Danny let his friends off on a building and flew back to the agents.

Tucker knelt down and started kissing the ground. “Oh, sweet ground! I’m never leaving you again!”

“Why Danny has a weird friend like you is beyond me,” Sam said, rolling her eyes for the umpteenth time that day.

**Ten minutes later…**

“Hey, Sam?”

“Yes, Tucker?”

“Why’s Danny signing their chests?”

Sam looked up to see her famous boyfriend signing the Guys in White’s chests with a very exasperated look on his face. He was still being held at gunpoint.

“Oh, I don’t know, Tuck, maybe it’s because he wants to? Or maybe it’s because he’s being held at gunpoint!”

“Okay!” the friends heard Danny cry out. “That’s enough! And _no_ , I am _not_ signing your shoes!” He was now being chased and being barraged by items and requests for autographs on different parts of the body. “No! I am not signing your heads either! PUT YOUR PANTS BACK ON, FOR PETE’S SAKE!”

Sam looked down quickly, blushing fiercely. She had seen some very unmanly boxers.

“Wow,” Tucker said, quietly, “who knew the Guys in White liked _Star Wars_? Or the _Powerpuff Girls_ for that matter?”

“PUT YOUR SHIRTS BACK ON!” Tucker heard Danny yelling.

The mayor of Amity Park had closed his eyes to the indecent sight that was taking place in the air above them. He was not, however, blind to the fascinated girls on the ground that were watching the spectacle with a mixture of both disgust and fascination. Even the reporters had averted their eyes from the scene and their cameras were still rolling.

“This is going to take a while,” Sam said, lying down besides Tucker on her belly.

“Think we should help him?”

“NOT THE BOXERS!”

“I don’t think we can do anything at this point,” Tucker said, looking over the fan girls with a critical eye.

“NO! I AM _NOT_ SIGNING THAT!”

“You have to feel sorry for him.”

“PUT THEM BACK ON! I MEAN IT!”

“Yeah, I guess.”

“NOT THE GUN! STOP SHOOTING!”

“You don’t feel sorry for him, do you?”

“Not really.” Tucker sighed and closed his eyes. “Let’s just enjoy the shouting match.”

“WHAT THE?! NO, DON’T CALL THE PRESIDENT!”

“My ears are killing me,” Sam groaned, covering them.

“Hey, girls, wanna go out with me?” Tucker called down, giving them a catlike grin. The crowd beneath them immediately thinned. Apparently, none of the girls had the hots for Amity Park’s mayor. “Aw, come on! I’m Phantom’s best friend! Doesn’t that account for anything?! Plus, I’m the mayor!”

Sam sighed and buried her heads in her arms. Danny had flown somewhere else with the agents following him and left his friends stranded on the roof of a really, really, _really_ high building. Life sucked.

* * *

Danny flew at top speed into his room, transformed back into Fenton, and hid under his bed. His hand was aching from all the autographs he had to sign for the Guys in White. There had been ten agents there and all of them had wanted autographs on their clipboards and shirts _and_ chests. Then had come the matter with their clothes… Needless to say, it hadn’t been a pretty sight.

“Operative B, did Phantom fly by here?” Danny remained very, very still.

“Affirmative, Operative A. This is his house. Permission to step in, sir?”

“No, are you crazy? His parents would blast us out of the house. Report back, Operative B.”

“Yes, sir.”

Danny sighed in relief as he heard the jetpacks being fired up and they flew away. His relief didn’t last for long before he realized that he had forgotten something very important.

“Oh no! Sam! Tucker!” Danny clutched his head in dismay but released it when a familiar blue mist escaped his mouth. “Oh great, another ghost? At least it’s not the Cake Ghost or Box Ghost. He looked at the thermos, which was sticking out of his backpack. He had taken it home with him and it had reappeared when he had transformed back. “But then again, I don’t think that’s an occasion to celebrate. Going ghost!”

Two rings formed around his waist and traveled in separate directions, transforming him into Danny Phantom. He grabbed the thermos, clipped it onto his belt, and flew out of the window.

‘ _What a day,_ ’ he thought as he flew through the city, invisible. ‘ _Now, where’d I drop off Sam and Tucker?_ ’

“Hey!” a voice snapped him out of his reverie. “Anyone? We’re up here!” Danny turned around to see his friends calling down from a twenty story high building. “Sam? Tucker?” He turned visible.

“No, we’re the film crew filming a movie about Danny Phantom, come back later. Of course it’s us, doofus!” Sam said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. “Get us down. NOW!”

“Hey, sorry.” Danny picked up his friends, flew down to the ground, and deposited them gently. “By the way, there’s a ghost around.”

“Ooh. Cool belt.” Tucker fawned over Jack’s newest invention.

“What kind of ghost?” Sam asked.

“No idea. The two dummies are locked up in the thermos,” Danny replied, holding the thermos up. His ghost sense went off again. “But whatever it is, we’d better find it, fast.”

“Fly around. We’ll follow on foot.” Tucker groaned as Sam said this. She gave him a glare, knowing full well that he hated exercise.

“Will do.”

Danny took off, his legs fusing into a ghostly tail as his speed increased. It didn’t take him long to find the source of the ghostly problem. It was a local television store, which meant only one thing.

“Technus,” Danny said. He flew into the store which was, not surprisingly, empty. “Yo! Technus? You in here?”

“Technus 2.0 does not reveal his secrets,” a computerized voice said behind Danny.

He turned around to see a walking television with a green background. Sunglasses framed a nose and a grinning mouth was revealed as well.

Danny rolled his eyes and said, “Looks like you just did, stupid.”

“Oops.”

“Oops is right.” Danny unclipped the thermos. “Now why don’t you go in here where you belong?”

“NEVER!” the television Technus cackled. “I will use this technology to take over the world!”

“Uh, dude, this is a television store,” Danny pointed out.

The television Technus stopped cackling and looked around at his surroundings. “Oh, so it is! In that case, I will take over the television world! HA HA HA HA!”

Danny rolled his eyes and said, “You’ve been watching too many cartoons.” He fired up a ghost ray. “Why don’t you eat…this!” He let it loose and hit the TV, pushing Technus out.

The techno-obsessed ghost stood up, his cape billowing out behind him. His sunglasses hid his eyes and his hair was sleekly laid back across his scalp. His skin, like some other ghosts, was green.

“Foolish child!” Technus’s hand glowed green and several appliances started to float around and aimed for Danny. “I shall destroy you!”

“Let’s see.” Danny thought for a moment and his hands started to glow blue. “Water makes everything that runs on electricity malfunction, so let’s see what ice does.” He put his fists together and one icy blue beam shot forward, freezing the appliances in midair. “I guess it freezes them _and_ causes them to malfunction.”

Technus 2.0 remained still for a moment and then picked up a video game box that crashed into Danny, causing him to fly out into the street. He followed promptly.

“You didn't think this would be _easy_ , did you?” he sneered.

“No, but I hoped it would be,” Danny muttered, leaping to his feet.

He then fired up two ectoplasmic blasts and burst apart the street below the other ghost’s feet. His blasts hit a water pipe which sprayed all over Technus. At that moment, Sam and Tucker made it to the scene.

“Finally!” Tucker collapsed dramatically, clutching his sides.

“Come on, stupid! Technology is your drift, not Danny’s!” Sam urged.

“Okay, the only way my PDA can take down that freaky ghost is if he’s in something mechanical, which he obviously isn’t,” Tucker pointed out, still panting.

“All right, let’s _make_ him go into something mechanical,” Sam said, getting an evil gleam into her eye that Tucker did not like at all. “Hey, Technus!” Sam called. The ghost turned to her. “Don’t you have something to say?”

“Uh, Sam? What are you doing?” Danny was frozen in midair, wondering what crazy plan his girlfriend had in mind.

Sam gave him an impatient gesture and then continued, “You know, don’t you want to jazz yourself up into a big, fancy mechanical suit? I mean, come _on,_ that look of yours is _so_ old school.” She winked at a very confused Danny, who still didn’t get what she wanted to do.

“Now that you mention it”—Technus looked down at his gloved hands—“a new look is exactly what I need!”

Hundreds of technological devices started to gather around Technus. They compacted around him and in a flash of brilliant green light, a gargantuan monster stepped forward. It seemed to have two feet that were made from cars and the rest of its body was made up of various devices that fizzed and crackled and flickered. At the very top, a television served as the new suit’s face.

“Great, Sam, you just made an already hard-to-beat ghost even harder to beat!” Danny groaned.

“Hey, relax, Danny, Tucker’s got it all figured out.” Sam looked back to her other friend. “Right, Tucker?”

The techno geek was currently trying to hack into the suit’s mainframe but he looked up, a look of fright on his face. “I can’t break in! It’s made up of so many technological minds that it’ll take me about five minutes at least!”

“All right, then, Sam, what’s your brilliant plan? A _lot_ can happen in five minutes.” Danny landed besides her.

“That wasn’t supposed to happen,” Sam answered, nervously. Danny gave her a look. “Er, okay, okay! Can’t you just freeze it?”

“I could, but he’d just break out of it.”

“Hey, try freezing each individual appliance,” Tucker supplied. “You know, each one is like a building block. Knock out a couple of pieces and the whole thing collapses!”

“That’s a good idea, Tuck!” Danny’s eyes started to glow an icy blue. “Better stand back, guys! The temperature has just dropped to negative zero.”

He let out a barrage of icy blue ghost rays, icicles, and eye blasts at the items making up Technus’s new haphazard suit. It didn’t stand up for long before one of the legs gave out.

“AAAH!” Technus shrieked. He fell onto his side. “This isn’t over! It’s just beginning! _He_ will return!”

Danny froze in the action of uncapping his thermos and said, “Who’s ‘he’?”

Technus’s television face grinned. “Wouldn’t you like to know! His shadow already stalks you!” He broke into mad laughter and attempted to get up on only one leg.

“His shadow?” Danny frowned.

“I thought I saw something on my room wall,” Sam said. “It vanished before I could get a good look on it.”

“LOOK OUT!” Tucker screamed.

“WHAT?!” Sam and Danny jumped and turned around to see…nothing.

Tucker gripped his PDA nervously. “I thought I saw something!”

“You saw this guy’s shadow.” Danny pointed to the still struggling Technus.

“No, I didn’t!”

“Yes, you did!”

“No, I didn’t!”

“Yes, you did!”

“No—”

“Hey, guys? The big bad guy is escaping,” Sam interrupted.

“Huh?” Danny saw just in time that Technus had escaped from his suit and was trying to make a quick getaway. “Oh no, you don’t!”

He grabbed the weird green and white stick his dad had given to him and flew at top speed to level out with his enemy. He pressed the button and whacked Technus across the street into a truck. The other ghost crackled with green electricity, momentarily paralyzed.

“Oh, wow.” Danny looked at the innocent stick in his hand. “It actually works! Now, to trap this guy.” He uncapped the thermos and sucked the ghost in. “I think I’ll call it, the Electrifier.”

“Cool.” Sam stepped under her boyfriend. “That your parents’?”

“Yeah.” Danny let himself down and put both the thermos and the newly named Electrifier back into their respective places. “I hope what Technus said won’t amount to anything.” He paused and added, “Wasn’t there anyone here before Technus attacked?”

“Yeah, but they’re hiding.” Sam gestured to the buildings behind her. “You’d best leave before they storm you.”

“Agreed.” Danny picked up both Sam and Tucker and flew off.

Soon, people were making their way out of the buildings and to the trashed television store where the mound of appliances was located.

The owner of the store stared at the mess for what seemed to be ages. Finally, he spoke, “Who’s gonna clean this mess up?!”

 

* * *

 

After dropping Sam and Tucker off, Danny was attempting to make it back to his house when the familiar Specter Speeder slammed into him and sent him spiraling to a nearby house. He stopped his descent before he completely wrecked the home.

“Danny! You’re all right!” Jack opened the door and beamed at his son. “Hop aboard, son!” He then paused and looked at a bruised and battered Phantom. “What happened to you?”

“Nothing.” Danny flew up to the floating vehicle and transformed once inside. “Just get us home all right?”

“By the way, Danny,” Jack said, “did you fight against any ghosts?”

“About that, your thingamajig actually works! I called it the Electrifier.”

“Call it the _Fenton_ Electrifier, Danny!”

Danny didn’t have the heart to convince his dad otherwise and agreed. Then he sat down, buckled himself up, and let his ghost-crazy dad fly them back home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I remember how much fun I had writing this chapter... I wonder how I should do this in the rewrite. >.


	4. The Lunch Lady

****Danny collapsed after his third ghostly wail. The robots were still coming and he wasn’t sure if he could do another one. Still, he got up and took a deep breath. When he released it, green sonic waves were coming out of his mouth and a sound that sounded like ghosts moaning could be heard. For the next few seconds, the robots were completely destroyed as the wail went on.

“Ugh.” Danny couldn’t do it anymore. He fell to his knees and transformed back. “How was that?” he panted.

“Four ghostly wails, not bad,” Tucker commented from within a glass room. “Definitely an improvement.”

“All right!” Jack stepped out of a door and into the room where Danny had been training. He was outfitted in a metal suit for fighting ghosts. “Time for your daily dose of dodging ecto-beams!”

Danny groaned and pushed himself to his feet. Two rings formed around his waist and slowly transformed him back into his ghostly form.

“Put this on, sweetie!” Maddie tossed him a handkerchief.

“Do I have to?”

“You’ll know that it’ll help you get better at dodging them,” Maddie said.

Grumbling, Danny tied the cloth around his eyes and took his battle stance.

“Use your nose, son!” Jack shouted, shooting the gun at Danny.

Danny stood still until the beam almost reached him. At the last second, he flew up into the air but hit the ceiling.

“Ow!” Danny rubbed his head. The second shot hit him and threw him against the ceiling again.

“Concentrate! Even if you get hit you have to pay attention, Danny!” Sam yelled to her boyfriend.

Danny successfully dodged the other three beams but hit the wall when he flew too fast. He was hit by the next two and had to struggle to make sure that the other shots didn’t hit him.

‘ _The burning of the air will tell me when it gets too close,_ ’ Danny thought, dodging another shot at the last second. ‘ _I can tell when he fires one because of my hearing. The trick is predicting where they’re coming from._ ’

Jack kept firing off round after round with his ecto-gun. Danny managed to dodge most of them but when he hit the walls and ceiling and one time the floor, he was sufficiently distracted so that the beams hit him.

Finally, fed up, Danny fired up an ice beam and froze Jack’s ecto-gun. He lifted up his blindfold and said, “Are we done yet?” He was then crushed by a huge hug from his dad. “Can’t…breathe.” He phased out of Jack’s arms and started to catch his breath.

“I’m so proud of you, Danny!” Jack clapped his ghost son on the back. The boy hit the floor again. “Oh, sorry.”

“No, really, I’m fine. It’s not as if I have anything else to do other than crashing into something all the time,” Danny said sarcastically. He transformed back into Fenton.

“You did so well, Danny!” Maddie beamed at her son from behind the glass. “How many ghostly wails could you do before?”

“Uh, two at most, I think,” Danny admitted. “And then I couldn’t transform for a while afterward.” He shuddered as he remembered what had happened back then. It still gave him nightmares.

“So…” Tucker did the math on his PDA. “…that means you just increased your power by two! Or you multiplied your power by two.” He scratched his head. “Whatever.”

“Gee, Tucker, you needed a PDA to figure that out?” Sam rolled her eyes.

“I still can’t duplicate myself, though,” Danny said.

“Have you tried?” Maddie asked

“Not really. It kinda splits my focus and that’s not something which you normally want to do. Besides”—Danny stretched—“I’m kinda tired.”

“Wanna go catch a movie?” Before Danny could reply, Tucker had grabbed his arm and dragged him upstairs to the kitchen.

Sam stayed still for one moment before bursting out, “Hey, wait! You didn’t even wait for Danny to answer!” She dashed after them. “And you’re not going to watch a movie without me!”

Maddie sighed and smiled at her husband. “Who knew that we’d be helping Danny with his training? I still wonder why he didn’t trust us with it before.”

“Gee, let me think.” Danny’s older sister popped her head down into the basement. It had been remade and barely looked anything like the basement from when Danny had acquired his ghostly powers. “ ‘Hey, Maddie, let’s destroy the ghost,’ ” she ranted in a perfect imitation of Jack’s voice. “ ‘No, Jack, let’s dissect the ghost,’ ” she said in Maddie’s voice. “ ‘I know! Let’s catch the ghost and tear it apart molecule by molecule!’ Oh yeah, I wonder why he didn’t tell you before.”

Her parents flushed.

“We had no idea, Jazz,” her mother said. “He must have been terrified.”

“He knew you were doing your job,” Jazz said. “Besides, no hard feelings, right?”

“I should hope so.” Maddie looked around at the devastation her son had caused to the training droids. “After all, I wouldn’t like to see what would happen if he did have hard feelings for us.”

Jazz winced. “That wouldn’t be pretty.”

* * *

“Remind me again as to why we couldn’t take the limo?!” Danny yelled.

The three friends were, once again, on the run from Danny’s fan girls.

“Hey, I told the chauffeur that he could have the day off. Don’t blame me if you can’t control the fans.”

Danny’s eyes flashed green as he glared at Tucker.

“How generous of you, Tucker,” Sam said sarcastically.

They ran around a corner and Danny turned them invisible and intangible. The fan girls pelted right through the trio without even noticing anything weird. When it was over, Danny let go.

“Sweet!” Tucker had an insane grin on. He held in his hands several purses and vials of lipstick. “I’ve got their phone numbers!” Tucker started to dance around. “I’ve got a daaaate!” He turned around to tell his friends. “See, guys? Hey, guys? Guys? Where are you?!”

Unbeknownst to Tucker, Danny had transformed and flown off with Sam when he hadn’t been looking.

Tucker started pouting but brightened up as he saw the fan girls begin to come back.

“Hey, ladies,” he said, doing an “eyebrow”. The crowd scattered almost immediately. “Oh, come on! What does it take to get some respect around here?! Or a date?!”

* * *

“Think we should’ve taken Tucker?” Danny asked, dropping Sam off in her basement.

“Nah. He was getting on my nerves.”

Danny grinned and transformed back to flop himself down into an armchair. “Same here. Whaddya want to watch?”

“How about, _Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix_?” Sam suggested.

* * *

Danny was flying home after a nice evening of watching movies with his best friends. Tucker had burst in after they had started watching and created a big fuss. It was only when Danny had threatened to overshadow him that he stopped complaining.

His ghost sense went off as he was in sight of his house and he stopped abruptly to look around for the source.

“You know, I really wish I could tell _where_ the ghost is and not just _if_ a ghost is here,” Danny muttered, scouring the nearby buildings. He spotted a green flash of light coming from the meat house. “Well, at least the ghosts don’t have any trouble revealing themselves.”

He dashed off towards the meat house to find a green skinned lady in a cafeteria worker’s outfit controlling pieces of meat. It was the Lunch Lady.

“Hey, don’t you have somewhere else to trash? Namely, the Bingo Hall,” Danny called.

“MEAT!” the Lunch Lady roared. The pieces of meat under her control shot towards Danny. He became intangible and they flew right through him to crash into the wall. “Who changed the menu?!”

“Uh, I think it was changed back.” Danny unclipped the Fenton Electrifier from his belt. “Isn’t that the way you wanted it?”

“Right, sweetie,” the Lunch Lady said sweetly, her mood changing. “Would you like some cake? You look hungry.”

“No thanks, I already ate.” Danny pressed the button and activated the weapon.

“THEN DINE ON MY FURY!” the Lunch Lady shouted, her hair becoming flames.

“I think you’ve got a bad case of indigestion,” Danny commented. He felt the rushing of air and dodged to the side to miss a chicken leg. “That was weird. Turns out training with my mom and dad actually paid off. Now, how’d I do that?”

A parade of steaks began to form around the Lunch Lady. It packed onto her body and in a green flash of light, a giant meat monster stood in the place where the ghost had been.

Danny cringed as the smell of spoilt meat reached his nose. “Ugh! Was this place even inspected?” His legs fused into a ghostly tail as he headed towards his enemy. “I think it’s about time that the results are due!”

He threw the Electrifier straight into the meat monster’s chest, where it lodged and started to electrocute the ghost monster. It was followed by a barrage of ectoplasmic disks, courtesy of Danny’s ghost powers.

“AAAARGH!” The Lunch Lady fell back onto her behind and the meat that she had been covered with exploded as a result of the Electrifier.

Danny saw the meat coming but didn’t think to turn intangible. It threw him against the wall where he crashed into some hooks. His jumpsuit snagged against one of them, leaving him to hang upside down.

The Fenton Electrifier that had been lodged in the Lunch Lady clattered the floor and rolled away, still fizzling.

“As much fun as this has been,” Danny grunted, trying to get the hook out of his jumpsuit, “I think it’s about time that we close this meat house.” Failing to get the hook out, he became intangible and let it slide through his body.

He landed on the ground besides the Lunch Lady and readied his stance.

“Come on! Give me your best shot!”

“Have a cookie?”

“Uh, no, thanks!”

“THEN PREPARE TO BE EATEN!”

Danny blinked and watched in shock as the meat that had exploded began to glow green and form kitchen utensils. “That’s new.” He split his body as a meat fork decided it wanted to spear him in half. It went through his waist. “Take this!” Danny grabbed a knife and swung it around several times in a circle before letting it go towards the Lunch Lady.

“Ectoplasm isn’t on the menu!” the Lunch Lady howled as she dodged the knife.

“Ectoplasm? Boy, I wouldn’t want to be the one eating that.” Danny’s hands started to glow green. “Eat this!”

He let loose two ghost rays which hit the Lunch Lady right on her apron. Danny took the offensive and began to bombard the other ghost with a variety of ectoplasmic attacks. After several minutes had passed, Danny stopped to let the cloud of dust he had managed to stir up settle.

“Wait, what’s that noise?” Danny’s ears had picked up a faint rushing sound that was coming closer and closer. “Where’s it coming from?” He took a wild guess and ducked to be hit in the face by a particularly foul cow leg. “Ow!” The ghost boy rubbed the rest of the meat off his face. “Note to self: listen more carefully.”

Danny started to engage the Lunch Lady in a contest of martial arts.

* * *

“It’s nine-thirty. I hope Danny hasn’t gotten hurt or anything.” Maddie looked at the clock.

Jazz was engrossed in a book titled What to do When Your Brother is a Ghost. “He’ll be fine, Mom. Don’t forget, he’s been doing this for a while.”

“The boy’s a Fenton, Maddie!” Jack said. He was holding in his hands a bandanna which he was embroidering. “And Fentons aren’t easily taken down! Just look at me!”

Jazz eyed her father’s robust figure. “I can see that.”

“Still, Danny was rather tired from that training we put him through,” Maddie persisted.

“He recovers faster than you think,” Jazz said.

“Finished!” Jack handed Jazz the bandanna. “This is yours, Jazzy!”

“For the last time it’s not Jazzy,” Jazz protested. “And the heck is this?” She held in her hands a bandanna with the huge face of a grinning Jack Fenton on it.

“From your old man so you’ll never forget him!”

“I doubt I’ll forget you that easily,” Jazz muttered. “Gee, thanks, Dad. I’ll be sure to keep it in a safe place.”

“Hang on, Jazz. I know the perfect place for that bandanna!” Jack ripped the bandanna out from Jazz’s hands and started to tie it around her hair.

“No, Dad! Get it off!”

Amongst Jazz’s protests and Jack’s eager voice, Maddie was staring moodily out of the window, wondering if her boy was doing all right.

* * *

“You’re skin and bones! Nothing like what you could be!” the Lunch Lady roared, throwing yet another crate full of meat at Danny.

Danny got a brief image in his head of a bulky figure with huge arms and flaming hair. “No, thanks!” he retorted, tossing the Lunch Lady another punch to the leg. “I think I’ll pass!” He grabbed the thermos and aimed it towards the meat-obsessed ghost. “Time for soup!”

He felt, rather than saw, the crate of meat hurtling towards him. But since Danny didn’t know what he was feeling, it crashed into him and sent him stumbling across the floor.

Danny then slipped on something and fell over backwards. “Ow.” He sat up and saw the culprit. It was the Electrifier. “So that’s where that went.” Danny heard the weird rushing and distorting of the air again and grabbed the stick to jump up into the air. Just in time, too, as a gigantic meat monster had attempted to land a punch on him. “This is too easy.” Danny pressed the button again and threw the Fenton Electrifier.

In another couple of minutes, the Lunch Lady was again back to her normal stature.

Danny turned invisible and flew behind the Lunch Lady. He was just about to suck her into the thermos when the shadow of her figure caught his eye. It was huge with hair that didn’t seem at all like the ghost’s normal hair and he could’ve sworn that there was a cape as well. Danny was so shocked that he dropped the thermos with a loud clatter, alerting the other ghost to his presence.

“Wh-what i-is that?” he stuttered.

“His shadow!” the Lunch Lady bellowed. Danny was reminded of what Technus had said, too.

“Whose shadow?” Danny whispered, not wanting to know.

“Shadow or cake?” The Lunch Lady’s mood had shifted again.

“Huh?” Danny was startled out of his reverie. “Uh, shadow?”

“TOO BAD! YOU CAN’T EAT SHADOWS!”

The Lunch Lady was about to throw another punch when Danny remembered the thermos and fetched it to suck her inside.

He looked at the spot where the huge shadow had been and saw nothing. Danny shook his head and looked again.

“Weird. Too bad she didn’t tell me about whose shadow it was. I just hope it isn’t who I think it is. Who else do I know that has a cape?” Danny clipped the Fenton Thermos back onto his belt and retrieved the Electrifier. “There’s Technus, Vlad, Pariah Dark, and the guy I’d rather not think about. I’ve never seen the Box Ghost wear a cape in my life.” Danny snickered at the mental image. “Clockwork has one, too. Hmm…” Danny remained in thought for a few more moments. “It could’ve been Pariah Dark. That guy has a huge shadow if I ever saw one."

He was broken from his thoughts by his ghost sense.

“Great, Mom and Dad are gonna kill me.” Danny phased through the ceiling and started to look around. He soon smelt burning air and jumped to the left to see a missile crash into the roof. “Whoa!”

“You’ve gotten better I see, ghost child.” Danny turned around to see Skulker. “Too bad your triumph is short lived. I’ll soon have your pelt resting at the foot of my bed.”

Danny pretended to gag and flew up. “Did the Ghost Zone run out of prey, Skulker? Or did you get kicked out by the Hunter’s Committee?”

“Hunter’s Committee? Not a bad idea.” Skulker shot several more missiles at Danny. “As for prey, there’s no shortage of it but you are a special prize.”

“Keep going and my mom will have _your_ suit resting in our lab.”

“Oh, please. As if your mother could do anything to harm me, the Ghost Zone’s greatest hunter,” Skulker scoffed.

“I don’t know. She could give you a run for your money.”

Skulker shot some rays at Danny, which he dodged.

“You really need an eye doctor, Skulker!” Danny shouted, looping around in the air to dodge a heat seeking missile. He blasted it with an ice ray. “You couldn’t hit the Cake Ghost even if it danced around in front of your nose!”

“Not that stupid ghost,” Skulker said. “It’s been giving me grief ever since it arrived.”

“Does it go along the lines, ‘Beware! I am the Cake Ghost!’?”

“Surprisingly, yes. Now”—Skulker pulled out a repaired thermos—“have a taste of your own medicine.”

“That thing doesn’t even work!” Danny’s hands began to glow green.

“It does now, ghost child.” Skulker grinned as he aimed the thermos towards Danny.

It sparkled, crackled, and soon began to whir to life. A blue light began to shine from within its depths. Danny was so petrified at the sight that he didn’t even think to combat the hunter’s thermos with his own. Just as the light had almost reached Danny, a black shape darted up to it.

“Beware! I am the Cake Ghost!” it shouted. “Behold—aaaaaahhh!” It was sucked in.

“Darn it!” Skulker began to rattle it. “It was a one-time warranty, too!”

Danny recovered his cocky self in a moment. “A one-time warranty?”

Skulker continued to shake it but it exploded in a cloud of blue light, leaving the hunter with a decidedly black face.

“BWAHAHAHAHAHA!” something cackled. “You can’t catch me!”

Danny rolled his eyes and went over to the hunter. He laid a hand on a dazed Skulker’s shoulder and said, “Here. Have a taste of the real deal.” The newer Fenton Thermos sucked in Skulker. “That actually would have been bad if it weren’t for the fact that the Cake Ghost flew into our way.” Danny turned around. “Should I even bother catching that guy?”

“HEEELP!” a person shrieked.

Danny sighed and said moodily, “I guess even the Cake Ghost strikes fear into the hearts of people.” He went over to the source of the noise and saw the pathetic ghost terrorizing a group of teenagers.

“Have some cake!” the Cake Ghost cried, throwing another wave of sweets towards the terrified teenagers.

“You know,” Phantom’s voice said, “you really should get the hint. But then, you’re even dumber than the Box Ghost.”

“It’s Phantom!” one cheered.

“Where?” the ghost boy said, irritated. “Oh, it’s me.” He sucked in the Cake Ghost without even looking at it. He dodged a stray lollipop. “Take a note, kids! That’s probably the lamest ghost in the Ghost Zone! Not counting the Box Ghost…”

“I resent that! You shall face my cardboard wrath!” the Box Ghost’s voice yelled from within the shadows.

“YAAAAHHH!” The teenagers sped off into the night, leaving Danny alone.

He stared after them and snorted. “Babies.” He then turned towards the Box Ghost. “Get lost, boxy! I’ve got to go.”

“Er, never!” The Box Ghost appeared dramatically from the shadows. “BEWARE!”

Danny took a breath and shouted, “BEWARE! I am Danny Phantom! Flee now or face my ghostly wrath! How’s that?”

“More shouting and waving of the arms!” the Box Ghost instructed, demonstrating.

“Gee, you didn’t think I was serious, did you?” Danny uncapped the Fenton Thermos and sucked in the ghost. “I’m having trouble deciding which ghost is more stupid: the Cake Ghost or the Box Ghost. When it comes right down to it, both are stupid.”

Still grumbling about stupid ghosts, Danny flew home as fast as he could. It was already past curfew.

* * *

“Danny!” Maddie rushed over to her exhausted son and hugged him. “You’re all right!”

“Can’t…breathe,” Danny gasped. He phased out of her grip and stumbled into the living room.

“Are those bruises?” Maddie inspected Danny’s face.

“I had a run in with the Lunch Lady,” Danny said shortly. “Nothing special.” He didn’t want to go into details about that freaky shadow he had seen instead of the Lunch Lady’s.

“Don’t you mean Lunch-A-Belle?” Jazz added helpfully. Danny gave her a look. “OK, um, never mind, pretend I’m not even here.” Jazz buried her nose into her book.

Danny then noticed the bandanna tied around Jazz’s neck. “What’s that?”

“Don’t ask,” was the reply. “It was either this, or it went around my hair.”

“I’m making one for you, too, son!” Jack announced. Danny saw a green bandanna in his hand.

“Um, I’ll pass, thanks.” Danny phased through the floor to arrive in the lab. “All right, time to get rid of these ghosts.”

He transformed into Phantom and unclipped the thermos. He emptied it out and clipped it back on. Danny was just about to fly up into his room when his father barreled down the stairs.

“Hang on, Danny!” Jack started to gesture to the table where various inventions lay scattered about. “Take your pick. It’ll help you fight ghosts!”

“Any chance there’s a mini Fenton Finder here?” Danny asked, inspecting the contraptions.

“Don’t you have that little mist to tell where a ghost is?” Jack inquired.

“It tells me _when_ a ghost appears but not _where_ it is,” Danny clarified. “If I had something with me to track it, it’d make my job a lot easier.”

“I seem to remember there being a little GPS thing here,” Jack muttered, scratching his head. He started to shift through the mess. “Maybe that’s it.”

He pointed to a very small device with an antenna poking out of it. It looked just like a real GPS but the screen was green.

Jack picked it up and pressed a button. The screen flashed and then a voice rang out, “A ghost is near. Move one foot ahead.”

“GHOST!” Jack shouted. He took a pace forward and crashed into Danny. “Oh, it’s you.” He rattled the mini Fenton Finder. “It’s still got some bugs to work out, apparently.”

“But for now”—Danny plucked it from his father’s hands—“it’ll work just fine.”

“These’ll help you catch the ghost once you find it!” Jack tossed Danny a very small pair of metallic gloves.

“Ghost Gloves?” Danny tried to fit his hand in one. Only two fingers fit in it. “How do I get these things on?” Danny pushed against a green button and the glove grew. “Now it fits.” He shrunk it again and attached the Ghost Gloves to his belt. “Anything else?”

The next couple of minutes were spent as Jack threw Danny weapon after weapon. Soon, his belt was completely occupied.

“Hey, how come there’s no weight on this thing?” Danny floated into the air.

“It’s got a built-in mechanism that makes it like there’s no gravity!” Jack explained proudly.

“Cool.” Danny phased through the ceiling. “See you later, Dad.”

“What a boy.” Jack turned back to his table. “Hmm. Now where’d I put the Specter Deflector?” A yell from upstairs appeared to answer his question. “Oh, I seem to have given it to Danny and he accidentally activated it.”

The ghost portal opened and a black shape came out.

“BEWARE!” it shrieked shortly before phasing through the ceiling.

“CAKE!” Jack yelled, dashing upstairs.

“AAGHH! No, Dad! Don’t eat the cake!”

“He ate it…”

“A ghost is near. Move two feet to the right.”

“Ah, shut up.”

* * *

“Did you get _any_ sleep last night?” Sam asked Danny on the way to the Nasty Burger.

Tucker was absent as he had decided to take the limo.

“I wish. On top of the Cake Ghost getting out about ten times until I finally made up my mind to keep it in the thermos, the Box Ghost decided he wanted to room in my closet,” Danny said.  “Then Skulker got out and attempted to use that thermos on me but the Cake Ghost chose that time to declare that it would rule the world by making everyone sick so he sucked the Cake Ghost in again.”

“Again?” Sam raised an eyebrow.

“Close to curfew Skulker showed me a working thermos.” In response to Sam’s alarmed look he added hurriedly, “It had a one-time warranty, apparently. The Cake Ghost saved my neck by flying up to intercept the beam.” Danny’s foot became intangible and he stumbled before making it tangible again. “Not to mention my powers are acting whacky because of lack of sleep.”

“You could’ve stayed in bed.”

“And have the Box Ghost declaring that he will rule the world by shutting everyone up in those crates he keeps? I’d never be able to close my eyes. I shut the Box Ghost, I get the Cake Ghost. I trap the Cake Ghost and the Box Ghost shows up again.” Danny brushed a hand through his messy hair. “It goes on and on. Maybe I should have my parents shut the portal off. But then my dad would forever be moping around the house.”

“Too bad.” Sam walked up to the glass doors of the Nasty Burger and held them open for Danny. “Looks like Tucker didn’t get here yet. I’ll go get us some drinks and in the meantime, try not to fall asleep.”

Danny grumbled as he went to find a table. He managed to find a booth and sat down to rest his head against the table.

“Now, let’s hope there are no more ghosts.” His ghost sense went off and he groaned. “I can’t take this anymore.”

“FEAR ME!” a squeaky voice cackled. “I AM THE UNBEATABLE CAKE GHOST!”

“I’m going to ignore that and pretend I’m asleep.”

His resolution was shattered when a cleaning lady grabbed his shirt and pushed him into action.

“Go, boy!” she instructed him.

“It’s the Cake Ghost and my name is _Danny_ ,” he grumbled. He transformed into Phantom to get the thermos from his belt. “I should really talk to Dad about a belt for my human form, too.”

“YOU CANNOT CATCH ME IN THAT SOUP CAN! HAHAHA!”

Danny rolled his eyes, flew over to the Cake Ghost, and said, “It’s not a soup can. And you better think about it before attacking here because I might just leave you in the thermos for good.”

“I SAID, YOU CANNOT CATCH—AAAARGH!” The Cake Ghost was pulled in.

“I’ve heard it before,” Danny muttered, closing his eyes and changing back into Fenton. He practically fell into his seat out of exhaustion.

Danny closed his eyes and fell asleep. Sam went up to him and looked at his slumbering form.

“Should I wake him?”

“I AM THE BOX GHOST! BEWARE!”

“AAAH!” Danny was jerked awake. “Thanks for ruining my nap! Now I’m going to return the favor!” He transformed and chased the Box Ghost out of the restaurant.

 ****Sam stared at the spot in the ceiling where the two had disappeared and sighed. “So much for a peaceful day. Hmm.” She stared at the soda she had gotten for Danny. “Maybe I should drug his drink.” ****

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am quite frankly appalled at how I characterized Tucker in this story. I don't treat him very well in my other story either... Until the later chapters, which is when I apparently have a drastic change of heart.


	5. The Fright Knight (Part 1)

****“How nice is this?” Danny flew through the morning air to school. “This way I won’t have to deal with the fan girls. I wonder why I didn’t think of it before.” He saw several helicopters flying around. “Now I remember why I didn’t do it before.” He turned invisible.

Danny flew right by the helicopters without any problems and straight to school. He had gotten a good night’s sleep for a change since he had kept both the Cake Ghost and the Box Ghost in the thermos. He had been considering leaving them in there for good except for the fact that it was immoral so he had released them.

Danny arrived at the school, phased through the roof, and arrived in Mr. Lancer’s class via the ceiling. He just about startled the wits out of the class.

“Good morning, Mr. Lancer,” Danny said cheerfully.

“Uh, good morning, Mr. Fenton,” Mr. Lancer said, clutching his chest. “Please don’t do that anymore. You just about gave me a heart attack.”

“Sorry.” Danny transformed back much to Paulina’s disappointment. “It was the quickest way to school without getting mobbed.” He sat down and noticed that Sam and Tucker hadn’t arrived yet. “Where are Sam and Tucker?”

“Haven’t arrived yet,” Mr. Lancer replied. He organized his files.

“But they took the limo so that doesn’t make any sense.”

“Maybe they were mobbed,” Dash suggested.

Danny covered his eyes in dismay. “Permission to go out and be late?”

“I suppose.” Mr. Lancer waved him out.

“Thanks.”

Danny transformed again and phased through the ceiling.

“You weren’t actually serious, were you, Mr. Baxter?” Mr. Lancer inquired as the bell rang.

“Sure I was. If Fenton is mobbed by his fan girls, then why not his friends?”

“Last time I checked, his friends were only mobbed because they were within the vicinity of Mr. Fenton,” Mr. Lancer pointed out.

“They might’ve thought that he was hiding in the car with them,” Dash said.

“If you’d actually use that brain of yours in class like that, I believe we’d be getting somewhere,” Mr. Lancer said. He ignored Dash’s confused look. “Now, let’s move on to the next assignment in history. Namely, the Indians in America.”

* * *

“For the last time, DANNY ISN’T IN HERE!” Sam shouted out the window to the fan girls.

“But _I_ am,” Tucker called out sexily. He was pelted in the face by a rotten tomato and pulled his head back in. “Why does everyone always hate me? Why?” He wiped the dripping mess off with a handkerchief.

“Why am I friends with a famous ghost boy and a weird techno geek who’s the mayor?” Sam groaned, burying her face in her knees.

“Because you have a crush on said ghost boy and I’m the ghost boy’s best friend.”

Sam gave him a glare and threatened him, “If you say that one more time I’ll give you a black eye that’s nothing compared to a rotten tomato.”

“Point taken.”

“Hey, girls!” Sam heard a familiar voice shout and poked her head through the limo’s open roof. She saw Danny Phantom floating in the air. “I’m not in there!”

“PHANTOM!” The fan girls stampeded after Danny, who flew away.

“Now, Sam, Tucker,” a quiet voice said from behind them.

“AAAH!”

They jumped and turned around to see a sheepish Danny grinning at them. He phased through the back of the car and sat in between them.

“Are you going to keep staring at me or are you going to get to school?” he asked crossly. “The bell’s already rang and you’ll be lucky to avoid getting detention.”

Sam recovered more quickly than Tucker and said, “Cool trick with the duplication. What about you though?”

“I already asked Lancer for a late pass,” Danny said. He poked his head to the front and added to the chauffeur, “Either you drive now or I’m flying them.”

“Er—”

“Never mind, this’ll be faster.”

Danny grabbed his friends’ arms, turned them intangible, and took off in a blink of an eye, leaving the bewildered chauffeur in the car.

“Mr. Foley?” he asked, not seeming to realize the back seat was empty.

* * *

“Hey, Danny!” the red-suited girl on the flying hoverboard yelled. “How you doing?!”

“Valerie?!” Phantom screeched to a halt but before he could continue he fizzled out of view.

“What the—?!” Valerie Grey, Amity Park’s second ghost hunter, scratched her head. “What happened?” She looked at her ghost detecting device and didn’t see anything. “He obviously didn’t go invisible.” Then she looked down and saw the crowds of fan girls. “Now I get it. Still, I better get to school as it’s my first day back.” She zoomed off.

Valerie arrived at the school a few minutes later, clicked her heels together, and her outfit disappeared. She looked like a regular African-American teen.

‘ _It’s now or never,_ ’ she thought, taking a deep breath.

She opened the doors to Casper High and stepped in. Nobody noticed her the first few moments until it registered in their brains what they were seeing.

“Valerie?” Heads started swiveling. “Valerie Gray? Is that you?”

“Valerie?” Valerie saw her old friends Danny, Sam, and Tucker approach.

She smiled and said, “Hey, guys. How’s the ghost hunting been, Danny?”

The half-ghost shrugged and answered, “All right. What about you?  How’d that trip to Paris go?”

“Fine. My dad got a new job,” Valerie said. “He’s no longer working as a guard for Axions.” In response to her friends’ curious look she added, “He pretty much quit and is now working as a security designer for the Louvre Museum.”

“But doesn’t that mean you have to live in France?” Sam inquired.

“He can work long distance. By the way, what was up with that little fizzle I saw you do back there, Danny?”

“Fizzle?” Danny thought for a moment before realization struck him. “Oh, that was my double. I duplicated myself because Sam and Tucker couldn’t get through the girls. I needed a distraction so I could get them to school. Thanks to that, I missed first period.” He snorted.

“I wasn’t exactly complaining,” Tucker grumbled.

“Sure, you didn’t mind being pelted by rotten vegetables either,” Sam said sarcastically.

Valerie raised an eyebrow. “Rotten vegetables?”

“He was hitting on them,” Sam explained.

“Why does that not surprise me?”

“It doesn’t,” was the response.

The bell rang and the friends made their way through the rapidly emptying hallway to biology.

“I hope we don’t have to dissect anything today,” Sam said as they opened the door. “Oh no, I quit. I’m not dissecting cats.”

“They’re fake, Ms. Manson,” the teacher said, holding up an artificial cat. “Mr. Fenton requested we do this little act of kindness.”

“How sweet of you, Danny,” Sam said, smiling.

“Uh, thanks?”

“Hey, Tuck, wanna be my lab partner?” Valerie asked.

“Really? Sweet! I’ve got a date!”

“Tucker, it isn’t a date. We’re just lab partners…”

“Oh shoot…” Tucker looked hopefully at his PDA. “Will you be my date?”

Valerie rolled her eyes and led Tucker over to a table to get the dissection started.

* * *

After school, the friends were walking home, thankfully not being chased by any fan girls.

“Valerie, uh.” Danny rubbed the back of his neck nervously. “I didn’t bring this up in school because of the all the kids. Er…I don’t really know how to phrase this, but…how’d you react on first knowing that I was half-ghost?”

“You saw my reaction,” Valerie replied.

“Well, I…er, I saw you smile but after that you left on that trip to Paris so I couldn’t talk to you about it. Anyway, how’d you feel about it?”

Sam and Tucker looked at each other. They had known that this would be coming up.

“Well, I was shocked at first,” Valerie said quietly. “I couldn’t believe that the ghost I’d been hunting all those days was actually you and that I threw a potential relationship out the window because I thought I’d be protecting you. Now that I think about it, it’s ironic.”

Sam had frozen here and closed her eyes.

“Still, you guys are together now, aren’t you?” Valerie glanced at the ring on Sam’s hand. “I won’t come in between you but I hope we can still be friends. Ghost hunter or not.”

“Sure, we can still be friends.” Danny smiled, relieved. “I thought you’d be upset about it.”

“I was, at first. It took me a while to think about it and realize that you couldn’t tell me. After all, I was the ghost hunter and you were the ghost I was hunting. So when that trip to Paris came around, I jumped at it. It gave me the chance to clear my head and think.”

“Danny,” Sam said, beckoning to her boyfriend, “we need to talk.”

Valerie watched as the trio moved a little way and started to whisper. She waited until, finally, Sam approached her.

“We’ve reached a decision,” she started. “We can be friends just as long as—”

“Just as long as what?” Valerie prompted, getting impatient.

“—just as long as you don’t hunt Danny and promise to hear out our side of the story whenever it seems like something bad happened,” Sam finished.

“That’s great!” Valerie let out a breath she hadn’t realized that she had held. “The hunting part you don’t have to worry about but as for the listening part…well…”

“I know, you shoot first and ask questions later,” Danny said. “Trust me, I know.”

“That’s great,” Tucker said. “Now, why don’t we catch a movie or—” Danny’s ghost sense went off. “Darn it.”

Danny transformed and raised an eyebrow at Valerie’s shocked reaction. “What? You’ve known I was Phantom for a while and you still react this way?”

“This is just going to take some getting used to.” Valerie shook her head.

“Where’s the—”

Danny was cut off by a loud, “CAKE!”

A black thing darted out of the sidewalk and bombed Danny with sweets.

Danny remained silent and then said, “GHOST!” Sam and Tucker jumped. “Fear me! When I catch you, I’m going to, uh, tear you apart molecule by molecule!”

“CAN’T CATCH ME!” the Cake Ghost taunted, before speeding off with Danny in hot pursuit.

Valerie blinked. “Uh, what was that?”

“The Cake Ghost,” Sam and Tucker said simultaneously.

“He’s not really going to tear it apart, is he?”

“I dunno,” Tucker said, looking into the distance. “That thing’s pretty annoying.”

“This won’t take long. Let’s just get to the Fenton Portal and wait for Danny to come back,” Sam suggested.

“Okay.” Valerie followed the others. “You sure he can take care of this?”

“Valerie, that’s the Cake Ghost,” Sam said. “That thing is even lamer than the Box Ghost.”

“Hey! I’m right here, you know!” the Box Ghost’s voice protested.

“Ghost!” Valerie activated her ghost hunting equipment and dashed after the Box Ghost.

“Should we tell her Danny catches him in five seconds flat?” Tucker asked.

“Nah. It’d be degrading.” Sam shrugged.

* * *

The pumpkin rattled, the eyes glowing green. The eerie green light suddenly flashed red and the sword started to quake furiously. Suddenly, with a loud cracking noise, the pumpkin split in half. With a loud roar, a torrent of green light burst forth and flowed ferociously for a few moments before calming down and silhouetting a tall figure within it.

It stepped out, revealing none other than the Fright Knight. He was dressed in black armor, had a fiery purple cape, and his eyes flashed red once before turning back into their regular green. The Fright Knight turned around and lifted up his sword. With another resounding crack that sounded like thunder, a black, skeleton-like steed with wings stood next to him.

“Come, Nightmare,” the Fright Knight said in an ominous echoing voice. “It’s time…” His sword flashed green violently. “…to go to the human realm.”

* * *

Danny groaned as he looked at his alarm clock. It flashed at him annoyingly. It was three in the morning and he had been rudely awoken by his ghost sense.

“Should I have kept the Cake Ghost in the thermos?” he muttered, rubbing his eyes and transforming. “Still, it might not be the Cake Ghost.”

He flew out through his window and looked around before remembering he had a ghost finder clipped to his belt. He took it off and switched it on.

“There is a ghost nearby,” it toned out. “You’re standing in it.”

Danny rolled his eyes and pressed a button. The screen changed from a blank green to showing a grid. This grid turned out to be a map of Amity Park and Danny could see a ghost outlined on it. It was only a few houses away.

“There are times my dad really comes through,” Danny said, hooking the Fenton Finder back to his belt. “Now, I just hope I didn’t get out of bed for the Cake Ghost.”

“CAKE!” a maniacal voice cackled from the shadows.

“And it looks like I did.” Danny grabbed the Fenton Thermos, aimed it towards the shadows, and sucked in the Cake Ghost. “Now that that completely pointless thing is out of my way, I’m going back to bed.”

“BEWARE! I am the Box Ghost!”

Danny mentally contemplated whether or not he should go after the Box Ghost but decided to do so. In another two minutes, he had caught the second most annoying ghost ever.

“Hello, ghost child,” a new voice said, making Danny cringe.

Making up his mind, Danny decided to do something completely out of the ordinary. He turned around, faced Skulker, and shouted, “BEWARE!”

Skulker raised an eyebrow. “This is new.”

“Danny Phantom is my name!” he yelled, waving his arms like the Box Ghost and feeling totally foolish. “Flee now or face my, uh, um, ectoplasmic blasts!” He fired one up to get his point across.

“It seems the Box Ghost has gotten through to you,” Skulker said, grinning. “This should make my job a lot easier.” His arm converted to a gun.

Danny rolled his eyes and said in a dramatic voice, “You did not flee when you had the chance!” Skulker raised another eyebrow. “Now face my ghostly wrath!”

Danny let loose the ectoplasmic blasts he had been storing up and hit Skulker in the suit. He followed it up with an ice ray, froze Skulker, and sucked him into the thermos.

“Now that I caught three ghosts in rapid succession, I’m going to bed.”

Danny tiredly flew back to his room, transformed back, and flopped down into bed without even getting under the covers.

His dreams were entirely unsettling with the Cake Ghost popping up at random intervals and, even more unsettling, shadowy figures in the distance with a dark laugh that seemed all too familiar to him.

_Dream:_

**Danny stared at the dark shadow in the distance. It seemed to be getting closer and closer, bringing memories that he didn’t want to think about. He cringed as a particularly vivid one flashed in his head. It had involved a boiler, a very nasty ghost, and his friends.**

**“Still scared, are you?” a nasty voice called out.**

**“Who are you?” Danny whispered, not wanting to know the answer. He was in ghost form.**

**“You should know who I am,” it sneered.  The dark shadow Danny had been warily watching reared up. It started to form flaming hair, red eyes, and a billowing cape. “After all, I _am_ you.”**

**Danny’s eyes widened. “No. _No._ ”**

**“Yes,” it said, with a dark laugh.**

**Danny remembered a flaming haired ghost taking a medallion, turning it green and ghostly, and phasing it through his chest.**

**“AAARGH!”**

****“Danny! _Danny_!Wake up!” Danny jerked awake to see his sister looking down at him out of worried eyes. “You okay?”

“Wha—? Yeah, I’m okay.” Danny sat up abruptly, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

“You were groaning in your sleep,” Jazz said, looking at him worriedly. “Did you have a nightmare?”

“Uh—” Danny flashed back to a certain icicled ghost that had been dancing around in Skulker’s armor and yelling, “Beware! I am Danny Phantom!” “Um, no. I don’t think I had one. In fact, my dream was pretty weird.”

“You’d better get ready for school.” Jazz went out of his room.

“Today’s Wednesday, the day of Mr. Lancer’s history assignment,” Danny murmured absently. “I wonder if Tucker did get his facts straight on Pariah Dark.”

Danny phased through his bedroom floor into the kitchen to find his parents already eating breakfast.

“How was the night, sweetie?” Maddie asked, handing him a plate with eggs

“Three ghosts,” Danny reported, picking up a fork. “The two most annoying ghosts in the Ghost Zone and Skulker.” He then added thoughtfully, “I might’ve defeated Skulker due to the weird way I fought. I guess he thought I’d gone paranoid or something.”

His mother raised an eyebrow. “Paranoid how?”

“Box Ghost paranoid.”

“I’m not sure I want to know,” Jazz muttered, buttering her toast.

“Danny, about that belt, I’ve made you another one,” Jack said through a mouthful of bacon. He held up a silver belt identical to the one Danny wore in ghost mode.

“Thanks,” Danny said, clipping it on around his waist. “I’ll just need a thermos to go with this one.”

However, by the time Danny was ready to go, his belt was dangling with weapons that Jack had forced onto his son. Most of them were the same as the ones he had in ghost mode.

“Bye, Dad!” Danny yelled running _through_ the door before Jack could get another gun for Danny to put on the belt.

“Danny!” Jack held in his hands the Fenton Phones. “Hey, where’d he go?”

“Went out,” Maddie said absently, studying some blueprints.

“I didn’t hear the door.”

“Phased through it.” Maddie marked off a few designs.

“Blast it!” Jack studied the Fenton Phones. “I wanted to give Danny these before he left.”

“I thought he already had those.”

“Not in his human form.”

“YOU CAN’T BEAT THE CAKE GHOST!” something cackled from the kitchen.

“CAKE!” Jack shouted, rushing into the kitchen.

“HEY, WHERE’S THE CAKE?!”

“YUM!”

“BEWARE! I AM THE—YOU CAN’T EAT ME! CAKE RULES!”

“Hey, where’d the cake go?”

“Outside,” Maddie said distractedly.

* * *

“Another belt?” Sam inquired, eyeing the array of blasters on Danny’s waist.

“I asked him to make me another one in case I can’t go ghost,” Danny explained. “He went overboard and gave me weapons, too. I didn’t have the heart to stop him.” He looked behind Sam. “Where’d Tuck go?”

“Give you one guess.”

“Valerie’s?”

“Yup. By the way, did you get Lancer’s assignment done?” Sam stepped into stride with Danny.

“Yeah, for a change I actually did. I had Sunday to work on it. I never knew the lives of people in the Middle Ages were so _boring._ ”

“PHANTOM!” Squeals from behind made them turn around.

“Oh no. I don’t have time for this.” Danny transformed, grabbed Sam, and took off. “Bye, girls!”

“How’d they know you go this route anyway?” Sam watched the girls try to chase them on the ground.

“They’ve been following me for the last few weeks.”

“Hey, Danny!” Valerie’s voice made Danny slow down. “Girl troubles?”

“You know it.” Danny saw Tucker on the hoverboard with her, clinging to Valerie’s waist for dear life. “Wow, I didn’t know you flew hoverboard, Tuck.”

“I don’t. This is a onetime thing.” Tucker peered down to turn green and hide his face in Valerie’s suit again.

“Hard to believe he’s a ghost’s friend,” Valerie said.

“Half-ghost,” Danny corrected.

“Touchy much?”

“Sorry. It’s habit.” Danny shrugged.

“As much as I’m enjoying this chat, it’s getting pretty cold up here. Mind speeding things up?” Sam broke in.

“Sure.” Danny sped up, Valerie behind him.

They arrived at the school in a few minutes. Keeping in mind Mr. Lancer’s reaction when he had phased through the ceiling last time, Danny walked through the school doors.

“You can phase through the ceiling,” Sam said, brushing her clothes off.

“Lancer nearly had a heart attack last time I did,” Danny said. “I’m just being considerate. Is history the first thing up?”

“Yeah, and I can’t wait to show you guys my essay on the ghost king!” Tucker said proudly, clutching his backpack to his chest. “I’m pretty sure I remembered all the facts!”

“Should I proofread it?” Danny offered.

“Nah. I think I’ll actually get an A on this for once!”

“You think?” Sam muttered under her breath. Valerie laughed. “No, seriously, do you really think so?”

“Why wouldn’t I?”

“I don’t know, maybe because last time you said that you failed so badly your parents considered getting you a tutor and sending you to summer school.”

“That was a onetime thing!”

“Sure.”

“Glad to see you could join us,” Mr. Lancer said dryly as they sat down to their respective desks. “Welcome back, Ms. Grey.”

“Good to be back,” she replied.

“And Mr. Fenton? What’s with the belt?”

“My dad,” Danny explained. “I have one like this in ghost mode but I wanted one for human mode, too, in case I can’t go ghost.”

Mr. Lancer blinked and muttered, “No matter how long I’ve known it never ceases to stun me that you’re half-ghost.” In a louder voice he added, “Now, has everyone gotten their history assignments ready?” Everyone except for Valerie raised their hand. “Ah, yes, Mayor Foley. I believe I assigned you a different paper. Care to read it for us?”

“Sure.” Tucker stood up, cleared his throat and began,

“ ‘ _Paper on the ghost king of the Ghost Zone, by Tucker Foley. As you all know, the ghost king is called Party Dude. He has two things that are of major importance to him. There’s his cool ring which can conjure up cool dance moves, and his even cooler hat. With those, he pretty much ruled the dancing and party zone. In fact, he was so good when it came to parties that no one even came close to competing. He pretty much had everyone under his thumb._

 __‘ _All the other ghosts didn’t like it because he was the one who organized all the parties and everything else in the Ghost Zone. No one else had any say. Finally, a group of ghost teens who were fed up with his rule teamed up to throw the biggest party of them all. They naturally invited Party Dude, but with a darker purpose in mind than just partying. ’Course, Party Dude couldn’t say no to an invitation to the biggest fling in the Ghost Zone and attended._

‘ _The ghost teens managed to get him totally wasted on whatever ghosts drink. When he was slumbering, they took his cool hat and cool dancing ring. Then, they trapped him in a room full of music that he had to forever dance to. This is how the Ghost Zone was free from Party Dude. That is, however, until a certain ghost who wanted to become the Ghost Zone’s new party ruler decided to wake him up. Then Danny Phantom totally kicked his butt. But that, my friends, is another story,_ ’ Tucker finished, with a smile on his face. He looked around at the openmouthed classroom. “Well?”

Danny, who had been holding in his laughter the whole entire time, suddenly burst out. He buried his head in his arms but couldn’t stop laughing. Sam soon followed. The rest of the class was simply bewildered.

“Uh, who’s Party Dude?”  Dash asked, scratching his head. “Never heard of him.”

“That doesn’t sound like the frightening ghost who sent Amity Park to the Ghost Zone,” Valerie mused thoughtfully.

“What’s so funny, Mr. Fenton and Ms. Manson?” Mr. Lancer inquired.

“Gotta give him points for originality, Mr. Lancer,” Danny gasped, managing to stop laughing. “Gee, Tuck, where’d you come up with that? _Party Dude?_ Oh boy, next time I see Party Dude, I’m totally running that by him.” He collapsed into laughter again.

“I don’t get it. Is it not right?” Tucker asked, bewildered.

“Um, first things first, it’s not Party Dude, it’s Pariah Dark,” Danny started, catching his breath. “Second off, he doesn’t have a cool hat, it’s more like a crown and his ring doesn’t make anyone dance crazily. It gives him a major power up when put together with that crown. And, uh, ghost teens? That’s a new one.”

“It’s what I remember Skulker telling us,” Tucker said defensively.

“In that case,” Sam said, regaining her composure, “you didn’t even listen. Pariah Dark? Party Dude? Total opposites if that guy even exists. Where did you come up with parties? Last time I checked, the Ghost Zone doesn’t do parties.”

“I knew something was up when I remembered that name,” Tucker muttered, slumping down into his seat.

“F-minus, Mayor Foley,” Mr. Lancer said. “Although, I don’t think I caught a word of what was said.”

“Still, Mr. Lancer,” Danny said, “why don’t you raise that grade? Sure, it was a total flunky in terms of being accurate but nobody can say it’s not original. I wouldn’t have thought of that. Just be glad he didn’t give the ghost king a different name.”

“Like what?”

“I don’t know, uh, Giggles Girl?” Danny said faintly.

“I don’t think Tuck is _that_ dense, Danny,” Sam said.

“Thanks!” Tucker then frowned. “Wait, was that even a compliment?”

“Fine then, D-minus, Mayor Foley,” Mr. Lancer relented. “Just be glad that I’m not calling up your parents. Perhaps you should sit through a few history lessons with the ghosts. You might learn something.”

“No thanks. They’d kill me,” Tucker muttered, burying his head in his arms. Valerie gave him a sympathetic glance.

“Pariah Dark would kill you.” Danny muttered, stifling another laugh. “Uh, back to class, Mr. Lancer?”

“Indeed, Mr. Fenton,” Mr. Lancer said. “Now, the Indians of North America were—”

“BOXY!”

“Boxy?” Sam raised an eyebrow. “The Indians were ‘boxy’?”

“No, they were—”

“SWEET!” Mr. Lancer appeared flustered.

The whole class looked at Danny who chuckled nervously. “Uh, do you really want me to get them?” His ghost sense went off.

“Did that just go off?” Dash asked.

“Nah, it’s about the third time,” Danny said. “It’s just the Box Ghost and the Cake Ghost. I can leave those two.”

“GHOST!” several people shrieked out in the hall. Danny rolled his eyes.

The halfa’s ghost sense went off again and he shivered. A loud whinny was heard from outside.

“That’s not the Cake Ghost,” he said, looking out the class window. What he saw nearly made him jump out of his skin. “The Fright Knight? So not good.” He transformed. “Sorry, Mr. Lancer. I’m going to have to miss class. That ghost is trouble.”

“CAKE!” The Cake Ghost phased through the chalkboard and straight into Mr. Lancer.

“And that ghost isn’t.” Danny sucked the Cake Ghost into the thermos. “I’ll be going.”

“Anne of Green Gables! What about class, Mr. Fenton?!” Mr. Lancer shouted, not realizing that the Fright Knight, ghost of Halloween, was outside.

“Oh, yeah.” Danny poked his head through the window. “Get a pumpkin ready, will you?”

“A pumpkin? Legend of the Sleepy Hollow! What does he need a pumpkin for?”

Sam realized what it was for and clarified, “It’s for defeating the Fright Knight.”

“Where’s the nearest supermarket?” Tucker asked.

“BEWARE! My square boxes of doom will destroy you!” The plump Box Ghost phased through the floor into the middle of the classroom, thoroughly startling several students.

“GHOST!” Valerie pushed it out of the classroom and a whining noise could be heard as she activated her hunting gear. “I’ll get the pumpkin!” her shout could be heard.

Sam shook her head and murmured, “She still doesn’t get it, does she? That Box Ghost doesn’t even merit being chased.” She got up, took Tucker by the shirt, and dragged him to the door. “We’ll be helping Danny fight the Fright Knight. In the meantime, teach the class why the Indians of America were ‘sweet’.”

“Ah, they were sweet because—” The plump teacher froze and then exclaimed angrily, “Ms. Manson! Mayor Foley! Come back here!” He then added, “And the Indians were _not_ sweet!”

* * *

“Hey, pumpkin head!” Danny shouted, getting the Fright Knight’s attention. “Don’t you have somewhere else to bake?”

“Foolish child,” the Fright Knight said, “you have fallen into our trap!”

“ ‘Our’ trap?” Danny asked, not missing the pronoun. He whipped out an ecto-gun that looked suspiciously like a Fenton Foamer. “Who’d you team up with this time? Not Pariah Dark?” He smirked, remembering Tucker’s nickname. “Or should I say, Party Dude?”

“I know of no ‘Party Dude,’ ” the Fright Knight stated, “just that his shadow commands me.”

‘ _There’s that phrase again,_ ’ Danny thought, firing off a few rounds of the Fenton Foamer. It shot green goo that the Fright Knight kept dodging. Finally, one hit him and started melting through his armor. “Gotcha!”

The Fright Knight jumped off his horse and started to attack Danny with his sword. The ghost boy blocked with the gun but it was knocked out of his hands with a parry. He responded by drawing the Jack o’ Nine Tails out from his belt.

“Take this!” Danny threw it and it wrapped around the Fright Knight, electrocuting him shortly. “Ha! Not so tough now, are you?”

The Fright Knight remained silent, choosing to grab the annoying face of Jack Fenton displayed on the Jack o’ Nine Tails and throwing it back at Danny. The ghost boy dodged it by turning intangible.

Danny again felt the weird rushing of air and distorting of space around him.

‘ _It’s coming from…behind me?_ ’ he thought, flying upwards and doing a quick loop. He saw that he had evaded the Jack o’ Nine Tails. “Totally weird. Hey!” he shouted back to the school. He dodged an ectoplasmic blast from the knight. “Is the pumpkin coming yet?”

“Valerie’s getting it!” he heard Sam shout. “Danny! Use the Fenton Crammer!”

“Fenton Crammer, Fenton Crammer,” Danny muttered, searching his belt. “Ah! Here it is.” He was hit by an ectoplasmic blast to the chest and was knocked down to the ground, sending the weapon spiraling through the air.

“Too little, too late,” the Fright Knight said, stepping close to Danny. “My master will be pleased.” He raised the sword high and brought it down with a blinding flash of green light.

“DANNY!” Sam and Tucker yelled in dismay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If I remember right, this was my first cliffhanger...


	6. The Fright Knight (Part 2)

Deep in the swirling green vortexes of the Ghost Zone, beyond all the floating doors and other ghosts, even beyond the frozen wasteland where Frostbite’s people live, is a castle. But this is no ordinary castle. This is a huge castle with many clocks and pendulums evident. This is the castle where the master of time resides. And right now the master of time is—

A child. But no ordinary child with a purple hooded cloak, a staff, and a scar running down the left eye. This same child morphed into an adult before two green figures with one eye.

“Clockwork,” one of them said, “do you realize what you are doing?”

“Of course.” Clockwork morphed into an old man. “I know everything.”

“You are placing the whole future at risk!” the other accused.

Clockwork resisted the urge to say “I know everything” again and opted for, “I have faith in the child and his friends. They have done well so far.”

Behind Clockwork, a giant circle filled with swirling energies shifted to an image. In this image, Danny Phantom was leading an enormous group of ghosts to some sort of mechanism. It shifted to another image. Here, Danny was facing a roller coaster where his friends and families were on. These images were the past.

Then, the image shifted yet again. This time, to a darker and more evil version of Danny Phantom. He still had the DP emblem on the chest, but a white cape adorned his shoulders and his outfit had changed. His hair was in white flames and his eyes were red. He sneered and the image morphed to one where Amity Park lay in ruins and the older version of Phantom flew high above it, laughing madly.

“This future may come to pass…” Clockwork shifted to a small child. “…or it may not. Have trust in my decision.” The scene in the swirling circle changed to the Fright Knight and Danny Phantom. Both were fighting ferociously. “After all, he has grown to tremendous levels.” He morphed into an adult. “Care to observe the door? After all, that is your job.”

The Observants, for that was what they were called, looked at each other out of their one eyes and disappeared into another room.

Clockwork turned back to the circle, switching to the form of an old man with a white beard as he did so. He looked grim.

* * *

“I’m telling you, Maddie, there was cake!” Jack shouted in the Fenton Family Ghost Assault Vehicle, or RV for anyone who doesn’t want to know what its true purpose is.

“That’s nice, Jack,” Maddie said, turning the wheel sharply to avoid hitting a fire hydrant. “But you’re forgetting that there’s a ghost at Danny’s school.”

“Is it the cake?!”

“Maybe.” Another quick swerve and a lamppost was saved from the death row. “Do you have the Fenton Foamer ready?”

“Here we go, Maddie!” Jack held up the huge gun.

A huge green flash of light suddenly lit up the sky. It seemed to come from the direction of the school.

“Danny!” Maddie floored the accelerator. “Hang on!”

“I’m afraid you will have to do the ‘hanging on’,” a voice said. “The ghost child and his opponent will have to be alone.” A green face was illuminated on a screen in the front.

“GHOST!” Jack aimed the Fenton Foamer at the screen before realizing that there was nothing to shoot at. “Who are you?!”

“I am Technus! Master of all things computerized, technological, and hip!”

“Is that the one who does the really long introductions?” Maddie asked her husband as Technus continued his rant.

“I think so.” Jack rifled through some cards he held and stopped at one to read aloud, “ ‘Technus. Master of all things technological. Is really long-winded with his introductions. Have Tucker short-circuit his wires and suck him in thermos.’ ” Suddenly, whole RV shut down. “Oh, it also says ‘Beat him when he’s talking.’ ”

Maddie hit her head on the steering wheel in the dark. All the windows were blacked out and the doors refused to open.

“For the record, I blame you,” Jack said.

“HAHAHAHA!” The dashboard flickered green shortly as Technus made his triumph known.

“GHOST!”

“Jack! Don’t shoot the Fenton Foamer in the car!”

“Oops.”

Another bang as Maddie hit the steering wheel.

* * *

“DANNY!” Sam and Tucker shouted in dismay as the whole thing went up in a brilliant flash of green light.

Danny grunted as he attempted to stave off the sword of the Fright Knight. At the last moment, he had managed to cover his hands in green ectoplasm and block the sword before it cut him. Now, it was a contest of strength between the two.

“Just…a little…more,” Danny grunted, his eyes shut with the strain of keeping the sword at bay.

The Fright Knight pushed down and hissed, “You’ll never win. Everyone’s gone.”

Danny opened his eyes and they flashed a brilliant green. “No, they are NOT!”

He pushed off the sword in a last-minute surge of strength and followed it up with an ectoplasmic blast to the Fright Knight’s chest.

“Danny! You’re all right!” he heard Sam shout.

“Ugh. For what it’s worth,” he groaned. He clutched his side, a massive cramp coming on. “Not done yet.” An ice ray started forming and he hit the Fright Knight’s horse with it, effectively freezing it. Before the horse’s master could react, Danny had pulled it into the Fenton Thermos. “One down, one to go.”

“But too late for you.”

The Fright Knight approached Danny again and attempted to stab the boy with his sword. At the last moment, Danny spun away and twirled something around in his hand. When it stopped, it turned out to be the Fenton Electrifier. He then unhooked something else from his belt. This thing turned out to be Specter Deflector.

Danny pressed a button on the Electrifier and the thing crackled with electricity. He suddenly vanished from the Fright Knight’s view and reappeared in front of him. Danny whacked the Fright Knight once with the Electrifier, effectively paralyzing him for a few moments and then clipped the Specter Deflector around his waist.

“AAARGH!” The Fright Knight trembled from the aftereffects of the Electrifier. It didn’t help that Danny locked the belt around his waist and activated it. “AAARGH!”

“Pumpkin yet?!” Danny yelled to his friends.

“I guess that Valerie got sidetracked?” Sam said weakly. “She was chasing the Box Ghost.”

“Wonderful,” Danny muttered. He watched interestedly as the Fright Knight struggled to get the Specter Deflector off of his person. “Gee, I didn’t think the guy had it in him. When I think back he was always…um…a servant.”

The Fright Knight’s eyes flashed red and the Specter Deflector gave a last fizzle and went dead. It then burst into green flames, which spread around the Fright Knight’s armor, creating an eerie vision of a knight in fiery green flames. The flames flickered from green to red and then back to green. Danny took a step back at the ferocity in the Fright Knight’s eyes.

“Eh, something tells me he’s seriously pissed off,” Danny said nervously.

“Come on, Danny!” Sam shouted.

“Yeah! Haven’t you got other stuff on that belt of yours?!” Tucker added.

“Actually…” Danny examined his belt. “…I guess I do.” He grabbed the Ghost Gloves, pressed a button to grow them to normal size, and slipped them on his hands. “Come on! Bring it!”

“With pleasure.” The Fright Knight stepped forward, brandishing his sword as he did so. It flashed an ominous red.

* * *

“GHOST! Get back here!” Valerie screamed. She flew around on her hoverboard, dodging various lamp posts, houses, and even the Op center on top of the Fenton Works.

“I am the Box Ghost! You cannot catch me! Prepare to face your boxed doom!” The Box Ghost summoned various boxes that Valerie blasted out of the air with her guns. “Uh, I’ll be back!” He disappeared.

“Darn it!” Valerie checked her equipment before realizing something. “Oh! I’ve got to get a pumpkin!” A sudden green flash of light blinded her and she swerved around on her board before steadying herself. “And fast!”

Valerie sped off towards a certain pumpkin patch she had been keeping her eyes on for Halloween. There were many large pumpkins in the patch and she could never be sure if there was a pumpkin ghost or not as some of the pumpkins always seemed to glow.

She passed over a huge pumpkin the size of a mini shed. “Uh, too big.” There was a pumpkin the size of a dog. “Too small.” Valerie hovered over a big pumpkin that seemed to be the right size. “I dunno, can I carry this thing? …Suppose I’ve gotta try.”

There was another flash, smaller this time but it flickered red.

Valerie groaned as she hefted the pumpkin onto her hoverboard. It was tough but she managed. Valerie hopped on and fired up the engines, which whined shortly before deepening to a hum.

“Hang on, Danny! I’m coming!” She sped off.

When she left, the huge pumpkin in the middle of the patch that was, oddly, the size of a house glowed a freaky green and formed two eyes and a leering mouth. Its nose was an upside down triangle.

“Steal a pumpkin from my patch, will you?” it rumbled. “I think not.”

It floated up and vanished. But, if one could see it, they would have seen a floating pumpkin chasing after a red suited girl on a hoverboard.

* * *

“Oof!” Danny Phantom flew backwards and into a fire hydrant, which exploded and started to spray water everywhere. “That hurt.”

“You’ll be hurting a lot more by the time this is over,” the Fright Knight said, illuminated in green flames.

Danny reached for his belt and pulled out another weapon. “Wait, a toaster?!” He looked at the green toaster, confused. “Oh, the _Fenton_ Toaster.” He glanced at the logo emblazoned on it. “What am I supposed to do with this?!”

“Danny! Stop thinking about whether or not you want to toast some bread and do something!” Sam snapped him out of his puzzlement.

“You should know I hate toast,” Danny muttered, holding up the toaster as a shield as the Fright Knight attacked him with a fiery sword.

The sword hit the button on the toaster and it started to glow. Danny dropped it with a cry.

“HOT!” Danny waved his hands around before remembering that he had ice powers. He jumped in the air to avoid being cut the sword and cooled off his hands. “Wow. The ground is melting.”

The Fright Knight accidentally stepped into the toaster and pulled his foot out hurriedly. His armor was smoking.

“Should I call it the Fenton Heater?” Danny suggested. He shot an ecto-blast at the Fright Knight, which the knight repelled by using his sword as a shield. “Or maybe the Fenton Melter.”

He put up his arm, knocked aside the green sword, and kicked the Fright Knight in the leg. Danny followed that up with an ice ray to quench the fiery flames.

“Seriously! Cool down!”

“Is it just me or are his jokes getting a little old?” Tucker asked Sam from behind a dumpster.

“It’s not you.” Sam covered her eyes as a bright flash blinded them.

“AGH! My eyes!” Tucker clutched his face.

“And that’s what happens if you don’t pay attention.” Sam put on a pair of sunglasses. “The ultimate Goth accessory.”

“I thought that was the piercing,” Tucker said, covering his face with his beret.

“I changed my mind.”

“Prepare for your worst nightmare!” the Fright Knight thundered. He raised his sword high and lightning crackled.

Danny looked up to see the sky overcast with heavy, dark clouds. It started to rain. Thunder and lightning made their entrance as well.

“Um, I don’t think you even know my worst nightmare,” Danny pointed out. He formed an ectoplasmic shield as a bolt of lightning attempted to shock him. “Not that I would tell you anyway.”

“Shall we find out?” Danny’s eyes widened as he saw the Fright Knight’s sword glow red.

“That’s new,” Danny said quietly, putting down in his shield in favor of a few offensive attacks.

“PUMPKIN, DANNY!” He heard someone yell. He felt a rushing of air and dodged aside just in time to see a pumpkin land on the ground where he had been. It didn’t burst apart because of one reason: Valerie was holding it.

The Fright Knight changed his tactics and started to go for Valerie.

“I don’t think so!” Danny slammed into the Halloween spirit and sent him flying into a nearby building.

“By the way, what can you do with a pumpkin?” Valerie nodded to said pumpkin.

“It’s for his sword,” Danny explained. He watched warily as the Fright Knight got up. “I need to put it in the pumpkin and say an incantation that’ll seal him in it.”

“The ghost of Halloween defeated by a pumpkin? Somehow, it seems…right.”

“You got that right.”

Suddenly, the rain stopped. The clouds overhead started to swirl around, if that were possible. There was a green tinge to the pumpkin Valerie had brought. An ominous chuckling was heard.

“Uh, Valerie? Where’d you get this pumpkin?” Danny was staring, wide-eyed, at the pumpkin, which was glowing green.

“A pumpkin patch. Where else?”

“Uh, yeah, but does that explain the fact that it’s glowing?”

“Get the sword, idiot!” Sam’s irritable voice cut through their thoughts.

“Ah! Right!” Danny sped off towards the dazed Fright Knight.

He was blocked by a huge, orange thing. Which, coincidentally, turned out to be another pumpkin.

“STEAL FROM MY PATCH, WILL YOU?!” it roared. “FACE MY FURY! FOR, I, THE HALLOWEEN GHOST, WILL, uh—” It appeared to be in deep thought then broke out again, “WILL BAKE YOU IN A PIE!”

“I am the Halloween Ghost!” the Fright Knight bellowed. He jumped to the giant pumpkin and attempted to slice it in half.

“Think we should break up the brawl about who’s the Halloween ghost?” Danny asked Valerie.

“Nah. I’m enjoying the fight.”

The self-proclaimed Halloween ghost was dodging the Fright Knight’s sword. No small feat considering it was the size of a house.

“I AM THE HALLOWEEN GHOST! MASTER OF ALL PUMPKINS AND VEGETABLES!”

“Eh?” Danny blinked. “Why does that sound like a certain other ghost?”

“And why did he say he was the master of vegetables?” Valerie had a confused look on her face.

“ _I_ AM THE HALLOWEEN GHOST! MASTER OF YOUR WORST NIGHTMARE!”

“NO! I AM! PUMPKIN MASTER, VEGETABLE MASTER, AND FRUIT MASTER!”

“FEAR MASTER, NIGHTMARE MASTER, MONSTER MASTER!”

“Hey, Danny, as much as I hate to interrupt the Halloween ghost brawl over there…” Sam nodded to the quarreling ghosts. “…I believe you have a ghost to catch. Lancer’s going to blow a coronary.”

Danny jumped. “Whoa. When’d you get here? You were hiding behind the dumpster.” In response to Sam’s glare he added, “I know, not relevant to current situation. I’ll just go now.” He vanished from view.

“Is he always like that?” Valerie inquired.

“Sometimes.” Sam rolled her eyes. “What happened to the Box Ghost?”

Valerie shrugged. “Escaped. I would’ve gone after him but I remembered I had a pumpkin to catch.”

“Anyone else feel sick?” Tucker groaned, his face green.

“Why would he—?” Valerie broke off. “Oh.”

Both she and Sam said at the same time, “He hates vegetables.”

“PUMPKIN MASTER, VEGETABLE MASTER, FRUIT MASTER, WHEAT MASTER, CHOCOLATE MASTER!”

“FEAR MASTER, NIGHTMARE MASTER, MONSTER MASTER, WEATHER MASTER, AND, uh, GHOST MASTER!”

“HEY! VORTEX IS THE ONE CONTROLLING THE WEATHER! AND WHO DECLARED YOU RULER OF GHOSTS?!”

“This is weird.” Sam raised an eyebrow. “A brawl over who declares which title.”

“Can ghosts do that?”

“I dunno but apparently they can. These two sure are.”

* * *

“Eat ecto-gun, ghost!” Jack yelled, deafening his wife. He brandished a huge gun that knocked into every available appliance in the RV.

“I wonder how I’ll eat an ecto-gun if I’m in the RV,” a snide voice shot back.

“BEWARE! I am the Box Ghost!” The Box Ghost phased through the top of the RV.

“HA! A ghost I can shoot!” Jack started to shoot the ecto-gun at the Box Ghost, who promptly screamed and phased out again.

Maddie resisted the urge to slam her head on the wheel again. She had already done so ten times.

* * *

“Hey! Pumpkin head!” Danny shouted. He then said to himself, “Wow. This time he really is a pumpkin.”

“MASTER OF ALL PUMPKINS—” The huge pumpkin cut off and glared at Danny. “What?!”

“Uh, master this!” Danny aimed the Fenton Thermos and sucked the so-called Halloween ghost inside. “Finally, I can give my ears a break.”

Danny was distracted from his triumph by the Fright Knight, who flew towards him and attacked him with his sword. Both ghosts flew into the air and began to battle it out. The Fright Knight with a sword and Danny… Well, Danny fought with a spatula. To be more exact, the _Fenton_ Spatula.

“You…insolent boy!” The Fright Knight attempted to gore Danny but the ghost boy split his body at the belt and the sword passed through harmlessly.

“Get therapy much?” Danny smirked, scoring a hit on the Fright Knight’s armor plate with his spatula. The knight was sent flying to a nearby building. He stared open-mouthed at the weapon in his hand. “And here I thought all it was good for was frying eggs and bacon.”

“Get the sword already, Danny!” Sam shouted.

Deciding to take the advice, Danny pelted to the Fright Knight, legs fusing into a ghostly tail. Before he could grab the sword, however, he was thrust back by a kick to the chest. The Fright Knight followed it by grazing Danny’s shoulder with the sharp edge on his glove. The ghost teen clutched his shoulder, which was bleeding slightly and made a mental note to ask his mother for lessons in martial arts training.

‘ _I could just suck him in the thermos but there’s a chance he might break free,_ ’ Danny mused. ‘ _He’d torture the other ghosts to no end as well. I can’t risk having him pair up with another powerful ghost._ ’

Danny decided to take a risk and ducked under the swinging sword. He balanced himself on his hands, kicked out at the Fright Knight’s, and then flipped himself around to knock the Fright Knight into the ground by kicking down. He didn’t notice the falling sword before it was too late. It would have sliced his arm clear through if he hadn’t felt the whistling of the air and moved aside. The sword, however, did score a nasty cut on his arm.

“AAH!” Danny clutched his arm, which was dripping ectoplasm. The pain was unbearable. He didn’t even spare a thought as to why he hadn’t been sucked into his worst nightmare.

“DANNY!” Sam called, scared.

“Hang on!” Valerie fired up her hoverboard.

“Don’t move!” Danny yelled. Valerie froze in the process of speeding to his location and fell off her board.

Danny grabbed the sword with his good arm, flew backwards to the pumpkin, and thrust it in.

“ ‘To cease the storm, to end the fear,’ ” Danny chanted, holding the sword tightly and dodging desperate ecto-blasts from the Fright Knight, “ ‘the sword must sheathe, in pumpkin near.’ ”

An enormous torrent of green light burst forth from the pumpkin and started to suck everything ghostly in. This included the black clouds in the sky and the Fright Knight, who wailed out loud.

“ _He_ will come back, Phantom!” the Fright Knight bellowed. “Even now, he waits!” The knight’s green eyes flashed red and stayed red. “You can’t escape him!”

“Who’s ‘he’?!” Danny shouted over the howling wind.

“He _is_ you!” were the Fright Knight’s last words before the light was vanquished and the pumpkin disappeared, supposedly reappearing in the ghost king’s castle in the Ghost Zone.

Danny was brought out of his musings by a sharp pain in his left arm. He hissed and transformed back reluctantly. When he was finished, the ectoplasmic blood that ran down his arm was regular blood.

“Are you all right, Danny?” Sam asked, worried. She examined the cut on Danny’s arm. “It’s rather deep.”

“I’m fine. But what’s still confusing me is who this ‘master’ is that the Fright Knight was talking about.”

Sam rolled her eyes and cried exasperatedly, “Hello! He just gave you a cryptic phrase!” She repeated it, “ ‘He _is_ you.’ Who do you know that is you?”

“Am I the only one who doesn’t understand?” Valerie wondered.

“Nope. I’m just as lost as you are,” Tucker said.

“That is me. Uh—” Danny closed his eyes in thought. “It could be…” He opened his eyes, in shock. “Not him!”

“Who else is you?” Sam asked.

“Stop saying that. It’s making my head hurt,” Danny muttered. He winced at the pain in his arm. Danny took a breath and continued, “I defeated him. There’s no way he could have escaped.”

“You didn’t tell us the details, Danny,” Sam pointed out. “What exactly happened between you two?”

“Who are they talking about?” Valerie asked Tucker.

“There’s only one ghost Danny didn’t tell us the details about. We only met him once but that one time was enough,” Tucker said thoughtfully. “That guy nearly killed us. It’s an alternate future Danny.”

“But why would a future Danny try to kill you?”

“’Cause he’s evil.”

“That explains a lot.”

“I’d rather not say what happened,” Danny mumbled, averting his eyes. The memory of it still gave him nightmares. “Let’s just say it was a really close call, all right? Clockwork is in possession of him at the moment.”

“Mind giving me a name?” Valerie prodded. She deactivated her hunting gear.

“He didn’t give me a name,” Danny said. “SkulkTech 9.9 called him Phantom, though.”

“Who?”

“Never mind.”

“Back to class, Mr. Fenton!” The kids looked up to see Mr. Lancer poking his head out of a window. “War of the Worlds! What happened here?!”

“The Fright Knight happened,” Danny responded. “Ow.”  His arm dripped blood onto the cement.

“I think you need to get that bandaged, Danny,” Sam said. “It’s clearly not healing the way it should.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.” Danny turned around. “Hang on. Shouldn’t my parents be here?”

“I guess.” Tucker beeped around on his PDA. “There was another ghost attack reported. A huge RV. It could be your parents.”

Danny promptly transformed and flew off.

“Why does he always do that?!” Sam cried angrily.

* * *

“It looks like Danny took care of whatever ghost was out there,” a certain red-haired girl said. “But it looks like _I’ll_ have to deal with the leftovers.”

Jazz Fenton arrived at the scene of the Fenton Family Ghost Assault Vehicle in the Fenton Ghost Peeler.

“Mom! Dad! Are you in there?!” Jazz called, trying to peer into the RV through the window. It was impossible as the window was completely black.

“Jazz?” a faint voice could be heard. “Is that you, sweetie?”

“Mom! Don’t worry; I’m getting you out of there!” Jazz stepped back and readied the gun that came with the body armor.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” A face appeared on the blacked out window. It was grinning maniacally. “That might hit your parents, too.”

“Who’re you?” Jazz asked.

“I am Technus! Ghost master of everything electronically concerned, technological and wizard master of gadgetry, computers,” Technus began his rant.

“Oh great, it’s the Sunglass Freak,” Jazz muttered. “The one who takes forever to introduce himself.”

“Hey, Technus!” Jazz looked up to see her little brother in ghost form. His arm was cut and bleeding heavily. “Why don’t you shut up and get a job?!”

“Danny! Your arm!”

“I think it’s time to shut you down!” Danny called.

Jazz watched her brother turn into a misty form and fly into the RV. He came out a second later holding a green-skinned ghost with sunglasses and cape.

“It’s Sunglass Freak!” Jazz shouted, readying her weapon.

“Er, who?” Both Danny and Technus looked at her, confused.

“Stay out, Danny! I’ll handle Sunglass Freak!”

“Sunglass Freak?!”

“I am Technus! Ghost master of science and electric technology—”

“Shut up!” Danny blasted the ranting ghost with an ecto-blast and sucked him into the thermos. He then turned to Jazz and said, “Seriously, Sunglass Freak? His name is Technus!”

“No, it’s Sunglass Freak!”

“Technus!”

“Sunglass Freak!”

“Technus!”

“Sunglass Freak!”

“IT’S TECHNUS! Didn’t you hear him shout it out?!”

“IT’S SUNGLASS FREAK! That name sucks!”

“ _YOUR_ NAME SUCKS!”

Before Jazz could retort, Danny was bowled over by his frantic mother.

“Danny! Your arm!” Maddie held her son’s arm, which was bleeding ectoplasm.

“What ghost was it, son?! I’ll tear him apart molecule by molecule!” Jack declared. He jumped out of the RV but tripped over his feet and landed on his face.

“The Fright Knight. I took care of him.”

“Where’s the ghost that trapped us in the Fenton Family Ghost Assault Vehicle?!”

“In the thermos.”

“I wanted to tear it apart molecule by molecule,” Jack said, crestfallen.

“You know, that might not be a good thing to say in front of me.” Danny looked decidedly green.

“Transform back, Danny. I need to bandage this up.” Maddie held a cloth to the cut to try and stop the bleeding. “What exactly cut you and why isn’t this healing?”

“His sword and I don’t know.” Danny transformed back by two rings. “Hurry up with it because otherwise Lancer is going to bust a few brain cells.”

“I’LL TEAR HIM APART MOLECULE BY MOLECULE!”

“Dad, that’s the teacher I’m talking about…”

“Oh.”

“Seriously, can’t you tell a teacher apart from a ghost?” Jazz deactivated the Fenton Ghost Peeler, which retracted to a small gun.

“GHOST!” Jack aimed the ecto-gun at Jazz, who shrieked and hid behind Danny.

“Dad, that’s Jazz.”

“Oh.”

* * *

“Johnny!” The green-haired ghost teenager glared at her pale, blonde-haired boyfriend on a motorcycle. “What have I told you about flirting with other girls?!”

Johnny 13 gulped. “Uh, sorry, Kitty. I didn’t mean to.”

“Oh yeah. Isn’t that what you told me the other time? And the time before that?!”

“Did I really?”

“Yes, you did, doofus!” Kitty smacked him with a handbag.

“I won’t do it again, Kitty, I swear,” Johnny said meekly.

“That’s the hundredth time you’ve told me that!”

“It is?”

Kitty growled. Johnny flinched and hid behind his motorcycle. His shadow stayed as far away as it could, being attached to Johnny.

“Such temper,” a smooth voice broke in.

“Who is that?!” Kitty barked. She flinched as she saw a huge shadow rear up on the rocky sides of one of the ledges in the Ghost Zone.

“That would be no concern of yours. But what would you have against a certain ghost boy?”

“Uh, I don’t like him?” Johnny supplied helpfully.

Silence reigned between the three. Kitty decided to break it by smacking Johnny with her handbag again.

“Serve me and I give you my word that nothing will befall you,” the huge shadow said.

“And what’ll happen if we refuse?” Kitty asked defiantly.

Flaming hair suddenly appeared on the shadow and the two cowering ghosts could have sworn that there was a hint of red where the face would be.

“Exactly what will happen ten years in the future,” the voice said.

Kitty and Johnny shared terrified glances. Johnny’s shadow was simply pretending to be another spot on the ground.

“Do we have a deal?”

Johnny looked everywhere but at the scary shadow. Kitty was staring at her feet. It was evident that the two had no choice but to agree.

Laughing filled the silent air of the Ghost Zone. In the human realm, Danny Phantom shivered as his mother bandaged his arm up without knowing why he did so.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Clockwork is actually one of my favorite characters to write. He's kind of difficult to nail, but if you do it right, it can be REALLY good.


	7. Johnny 13 and Kitty

"Hup, hup. Come on, Danny. One more!"

Madeline Fenton was in the basement of Fenton Works. The red-haired woman was on a mat and fighting one-on-one with…Daniel Fenton? Said raven-haired boy was panting heavily and in a fighting stance. He jumped and tried a flying kick, which Maddie promptly blocked. Danny followed it with a punch, which was also blocked. He balanced himself on his hands, propelled himself upwards, and followed it with another kick faster than the eye could see. Before she knew it, Maddie found herself face-down on the mat.

"How's that?" Danny collapsed onto the mat as well, but in a sitting position.

"You're learning fast," Maddie admitted, dusting the dust off of her nose.

"Well, what'd you think? I'm fighting with a ghost every day." He paused before adding, "My ghost form is stronger than my human form, though." His left arm was still bandaged, a memoir from his battle with the Fright Knight, who was now safely locked up in another pumpkin. It had been a day since the fight.

"It's a good thing you came to me about the martial arts training," Maddie said. "Your father would also help but…well…"

"I know, he'd spend more time on his face than actually fighting me," Danny finished.

"Exactly. Now why don't we take a break and drink some of this yummy lemonade I made earlier?" Maddie gestured to a pitcher full of regular lemonade. It seemed odd in that it…

"It's glowing?" Danny backed off. "Um, what exactly did you put in it?"

"Lemons and sugar, honey!" Maddie then frowned and added, "Well, I didn't add honey."

' _She doesn't notice that it's glowing?_ ' Danny approached it warily. He was just about to get a glass when a shriek came from upstairs.

"MOM! WHAT HAPPENED TO THAT PITCHER FULL OF LEMONADE?" It was Jazz.

"It's down here! Why?"

"You didn't drink it yet, did you?" Jazz poked her head through the doorway. "It's infested with ectoplasm. Dad accidentally dropped something into it."

"So, what does that mean?" Danny chuckled nervously and glanced at the pitcher. "There won't be a lemonade ghost or—"

"LEMONADE!" a deep voice roared.

"Nope, I'm not going to have _three_ annoying ghosts on my tail," Danny said. He reached for his belt and picked out a miniature Fenton Bazooka. He aimed it and fired it at the now floating pitcher. A small portal opened and sucked the Lemonade Ghost into the Ghost Zone. "There."

"Danny?" Danny looked at his sister. "Um, you do know that ghost is gonna come back, right?"

"Oh boy. Now I have a Cake Ghost, a Box Ghost, _and_ a Lemonade Ghost on my tail," Danny said, counting on his fingers.

"Maybe a ghost will drink up the lemonade?" Jazz suggested hopefully.

"I wish."

"MADDIE!" Jack's bellowing voice came down from upstairs. "WHERE'S THE LEMONADE?"

"Uh—" Maddie looked hopelessly at her children.

"It's…in the…" Danny was in thought.

"We drank it up!" Jazz hollered back. "Sorry, Dad!"

Unfortunately, at that moment, Jack yelled, "LEMONADE!" Danny's ghost sense went off.

"I AM THE LEMONADE GHOST! PREPARE TO BE DEVOURED BY MY LEMONS!" a roaring voice could be heard. Apparently, the Lemonade Ghost had gotten out without them noticing.

"Wow, that actually sounds threatening," Danny mused. He missed the glances thrown at him by the other two in the lab. He looked up to see them staring at him. "Oh, should I take of it?"

"GIMME!" Jack's voice could be heard saying. A loud _thunk_ was heard.

"DEVOUR HIM, LEMONS!"

"Yeah, you better take of it," Jazz said. "But still, I'd like to see the harm a pitcher full of lemonade can do to him…"

"Knowing, Dad, a lot," Danny said. He transformed and phased through the lab ceiling. He slipped into the kitchen to see his father surrounded by a parade of lemons. "Okay. That's just weird."

"Who are you?" the Lemonade Ghost asked Danny.

"Er, Phantom?" He wasn't really used to other ghosts asking who he was.

"GET HIM, LEMONS!" It looked hilarious to see a pitcher of lemonade, well a pitcher of lemonade with hands, feet, and, um, no eyes, commanding an army of lemons, most of which weren't even ripe.

"Watch out, Danny!" Jack shouted as the group of lemons attacking him went for the ghost boy.

"So not anything to worry about." The halfa turned intangible and let everything fly through him. "Are you a lemonade ghost or something?"

"NOT A BAD IDEA! I AM THE LEMONADE GHOST! Lemons or lemonade?" If it had eyes Danny would've sworn that they'd be beaming at him.

"Uh, lemons?" Danny had a bad feeling. It reminded him too much of a certain other ghost.

"THE ABSURDITY OF IT!" the pitcher roared.

"The absur – absurdi – uh – absurito of what?" Danny stammered, trying to get his tongue around the word.

"LEMONS AND LEMONADE ARE THE SAME THING!" Danny winced as the verbal noise assaulted his ears.

"Um, dude, or Lemonade Ghost, that isn't true." Danny tried to keep from rolling his eyes as a lemon bounced off his belt in a feeble attempt to hurt him. "First off, lemons are something you can suck or chew. Lemonade, on the other hand, is something liquid." He paused to let the information sink in and then said suddenly, "By the way, did you know _you're_ lemonade?"

"Eat Fenton Bazooka, ghost!" Jack yelled, suddenly bursting into the kitchen. Danny hadn't even seen him leave. Jack shot, but due to his erratic aim, it sucked in a blender. "Suffering spooks! Maddie's going to kill me!"

"And that's going to kill any ghost it comes in contact with," Danny commented, flashing back to when the blender had decided it didn't want to make shakes anymore and attacked his unsuspecting mother. It hadn't taken a great deal of effort from him to get the stupid thing to calm down. Speaking of which, did blenders even have minds?

"DIE!" the Lemonade Ghost cackled.

"Nope, you're the only one who's going to be doing any dying," Danny said, flicking open the thermos and sucking the pitcher in. He then sucked in the lemons that had sided with the Lemonade Ghost.

"EAT THE FENTON BAZOOKA!" Danny dodged a blast and the microwave was next on a one-way trip to the Ghost Zone. "Where'd the ghost go?"

' _Is he really that clueless?_ ' Danny was saved from answering his own question when Jack sucked in the table in the kitchen. ' _Guess my question's answered._ '

"Danny? Where's the ghost?" Jazz peeked in the kitchen. "Hey, where'd the table go?"

"Jack?" Maddie stepped before the kitchen counter. "Where's the blender?"

"And the microwave?" Jazz looked in a cabinet for it. Not being able to find it, she then muttered under her breath so only Danny could hear, "Not that I'm complaining, especially after the pizza inside it began to attack us."

"Uh—" Jack sent a pleading look to his son, who was trying to repress his laughter without much success.

"Sorry, Dad, that's all you." Danny floated up to the ceiling. "Mom, I'm going over to Sam's to watch a movie, 'kay?"

He went through the ceiling, leaving his dad to stammer his way through what had happened with the new Lemonade Ghost.

"Uh—" The huge man brightened up. "The Lemonade Ghost took the blender, the microwave, and the table with it!"

"Really?" Maddie raised an eyebrow. "Why's the Bazooka smoking?"

"Um, Danny shot it!"

"CAKE!" The Cake Ghost phased through the floor and into the oven. "Hmm. There's no cake here."

"GIMME THAT CAKE!" Jack shouted, running over to the oven.

Jazz sighed and was about to sit down before remembering the table wasn't there anymore.

* * *

"Anything new going on?" Sam inquired as Danny sat down in her huge basement.

"Besides the appearance of a Lemonade Ghost, no, nothing new." Danny brushed a hand through his messy hair.

"A Lemonade Ghost?" Sam suppressed a snicker.

"Compliments of my dad infesting my mom's lemonade," Danny said. "Kinda reminds me of the Lunch Lady surprisingly."

"Hey, guys!" Tucker said brightly, bounding down the stairs. "Wanna watch _Dead Teacher X_?"

"Um, ew," Danny and Sam said at the same time.

"I thought you liked the movie," Tucker said.

" _Dead Teacher V_ was so much better, Tuck," Danny explained. "'Sides, I've kinda had enough of ghosts lately. There's a new Lemonade Ghost running around town…"

"Do I even want to know?" Tucker put up his hands in mock despair. "How'd the training with your mum go? It kinda wasted the hour and two after school."

"Pretty good, actually." Danny absentmindedly rubbed the wound he had gotten from the Fright Knight.

"Danny," Sam said cautiously, "about the Fright Knight, have you thought about what's going to happen?"

"With that evil me?" Danny buried his face in his hands. "I don't even want to think about it. He gives me the creeps."

"He gives me the creeps, too," Tucker agreed.

"That's not the subject," Sam said, sighing. "You're going to have to think about it eventually. Maybe if you told us…"

"I don't want to talk about it," Danny said abruptly. "I still get nightmares about it…and that's not including the Cake Ghost jumping around in Skulker's armor."

"Now I seriously don't wanna know." Tucker pulled out his PDA. Sam promptly snatched it away. "Hey!"

"Cake Ghost aside, Danny – although, that's really weird and not exactly reassuring – you should be planning ahead," Sam said, holding the PDA out of Tucker's reach and putting a boot onto Amity Park's mayor's face.

Danny rubbed the sword wound again, absentmindedly, and said, "It might just have been a coincidence, you know."

Sam sighed and changed the subject. "On a matter still relating to the Fright Knight, I was wondering about that sword of his."

"The Soul Shredder?" Danny raised an eyebrow. "It's just a sword." He added, "An eerie green sword that nearly hacked my arm off."

"Remember that book I had checked out of the library about the Fright Knight during Halloween?" Danny nodded and Sam continued, "It was written in there that the Soul Shredder could send whoever was cut by it to their worst nightmare."

"So?" Danny shrugged. "What's the point?"

"Point is, Danny, why didn't the sword send you to your worst nightmare?" Sam snapped.

Danny had to think about that. "I didn't think about that. Maybe it doesn't work on other ghosts?"

"That doesn't explain why the Fright Knight is so feared throughout the Ghost Zone," Sam said.

"The guy gets defeated by a pumpkin," Tucker pointed out. "What's to fear?"

"Good point." Danny gave his friend a thumbs up.

Sam rolled her eyes and said in a low voice, "Maybe the sword was upgraded. Has that 'scratch' healed yet?"

"Didn't really check now that you mention it. Mom was kinda adamant about not taking off the bandage." Danny started to unwind it. When the bandage came off, the trio was speechless to see a glaring red mark on the arm where the sword had nearly sliced it off. "Okay, that's just weird. Normally, this stuff heals over and doesn't leave a scar."

"Any nightmares last night, Danny?" Sam prompted her boyfriend.

"No." Danny then added, "'Sides the Box Ghost showing up in a cake and shooting me with swords. But I'm not too sure that can be classified as a nightmare…"

"Where're you going with this, Sam?" Tucker asked. He reached for his PDA and managed to grab it. "I've got a meeting to go to in about two hours."

"I was just thinking," Sam said slowly.

"Yeah?" Danny pressed.

"Maybe your evil future self gave the Fright Knight some new powers. He could be able to control whether or not the sword actually transports the victim to a nightmare realm." Sam remained in thought for a few more moments before continuing, "This is just a theory, but maybe, just maybe, that sword _will_ transport you somewhere. Either that, or nothing can happen at all." She grabbed Danny's arm without warning and pressed a finger on the angry, red mark on the shoulder. "This thing not healing properly may be a sign of that. Let me know if you have any nightmares or any weird experiences."

"You know," Tucker said blandly, "that's kinda deep for you, Sammy."

Sam glared daggers at her annoying friend. "Say that again and I'll incapacitate you so badly that you won't be able to go to office for a month."

Tucker gulped. "Point taken."

Danny took his arm back from Sam. "Maybe the sword will do something or maybe you're just overreacting. Anyway, did we come here to talk or to have fun?"

"Speaking of fun." Sam wore an evil grin. "We haven't run a test on your powers for a while."

"Um, we just did a few days ago," Danny pointed out.

"But not alone. That was training. I mean a _real_ test run to see if you've got any new ones."

"Say I agree to it. Where are we going to train?" Danny folded his arms.

Sam picked up a remote and pressed a button. A whole wall slid away, revealing a shiny lab with plenty of space for training.

"Had my parents install that after the asteroid incident," Sam said nonchalantly, enjoying the dumbfounded expressions on her friends' faces. "I thought it might come in handy if we wanted some private training time."

Danny grinned crazily and transformed into Phantom. He then flew into the lab, followed by Sam and Tucker. Sam picked up something that looked like a clocking device and held it up, officially beginning the session.

* * *

Johnny 13 and his girlfriend Kitty fidgeted outside the Fenton Ghost Portal. Johnny's shadow was in a corporeal form and actually looked thoughtful.

"Do we really have to go through with this?" Johnny asked.

"Just 'cause his shadow disappeared doesn't mean he's gone," Kitty whispered. "'Sides, I don't really want to know what will happen to us if we don't cooperate!"

"He's a freakin' shadow!" Johnny scoffed, flicking off a dust particle off of his motorcycle. "Besides, what could happen to us in ten years time? You and me'll be married, have a couple of kids, the Box Ghost'll be the godfather…"

"You're kidding me."

"No, he actually is rather kindhearted under his 'bewares'."

"Oh, yeah, and the new pumpkin ghost Phantom dumped in here is a cook. I totally believe that," Kitty said, rolling her eyes. "Not to mention he's getting on my nerves in a way that only Technus can."

"Speaking of Phantom, I'm not too sure I wanna run into him over there." Johnny shuddered. "The Lunch Lady wasn't exactly looking too good after getting back and neither was Technus."

"Well, sadly enough, that's the point of it, Johnny," Kitty snapped. "And about his threat, it sounded like he actually _knew_ what would happen to us ten years in the future. And it doesn't sound pleasing…"

"Think we should ask?" Johnny looked at his shadow, which shook its head rapidly.

"Let's just go." Kitty hitched a ride on the back of Johnny's motorcycle.

Johnny revved up his "baby" and jumped through the portal doors, which opened as he approached. They turned invisible and left the lab, leaving behind a decidedly green Jack Fenton who didn't notice when the portal opened and closed. As for the Cake Ghost? Well, let's just say Jazz sucked it into the thermos after the orange-suited man ate it.

* * *

"All right, let's do an analysis on what we've got so far." Sam chewed the eraser on the pencil she held in her hand, staring at the list in front of her. "So far, your top speed while flying is 223 mph. You can turn invisible and intangible in a snap."

"Almost reflexively, actually," the ghost boy murmured, leaning against the wall he was floating before.

"Overshadowing is so good we can't tell a difference," Sam read off the list. "I seriously thought Tucker had gone crazy when you did that."

"I still don't get what I did," Tucker complained.

Danny grinned, flashbacking.

_Flashback:_

**Danny inconspicuously split himself into two and turned himself invisible, leaving the duplicate floating in front of Sam. He then turned intangible and flew into Tucker's body without Sam noticing anything strange. When the Goth girl turned around, she saw Tucker shooting an ecto-gun at a target.**

**"Wow, Tuck," she said, "when'd you get so good?"**

**"Ages ago," Tucker said in an airy voice. He twirled the trigger of the ecto-gun around on his finger and tucked into in his belt without setting it off. "Seriously, you didn't notice?"**

**"Um, no. Usually your aim with the Fenton Thermos is as bad as Jazz's sometimes. As for shooting the ecto-gun, it makes Danny's dad's aim look top notch by comparison…" The duplicate Danny nodded in agreement.**

**"I resent that comment," Tucker said. He leaned in closer to Sam and said softly, "You didn't mean that, did you?"**

**"Actually I did." Sam leaned back as Tucker came closer. "Do you mind backing off? It's kinda intruding my private space."**

**"You don't mind Danny doing it," Tucker breathed in her face.**

**"Well, he's my boyfriend, Tuck." Sam looked really uncomfortable now. "It's totally different."**

**"Uh-huh." Tucker was so close now that his nose was touching Sam's. The poor girl couldn't back up anymore because she was leaning against a wall.**

**"Danny!" she pleaded, sending a glance at the floating teen. "Do something!"**

**She was silenced from any further pleads when Tucker kissed her on the lips. Her purple eyes widened and she shoved the mayor off of her.**

**"Wow." The duplicate raised an eyebrow. "Totally unexpected."**

**"Tucker," Sam growled in a low hiss. "You're dead!"**

**She jumped at the boy but before she could do anything to him Tucker collapsed, laughing heartily.**

**"That was so funny, Sam! _Your face_! You should've seen the look on your face!"**

**Sam stood there, confused until the real Danny phased out of Tucker's body, still laughing hard. He absorbed the duplicate, who was also grinning.**

**"Uh, what happened? Why do I feel like a weird mist floated through my head?" Tucker asked, dazed. He looked at Sam. "And why does Sam look like she wants to murder me?"**

**"Oh, I don't wanna kill you," Sam said with an evil gleam in her eye, "I wanna kill Danny! GET BACK HERE!"**

**"AAAH! SAVE ME!" Danny zoomed around the room, his enraged girlfriend chasing him. Tucker stared bemusedly at the two.**

**"What happened?"**

_End Flashback._

"Seriously, though, don't do that again," Sam told Danny. "That freaked me out. I really thought Tucker had lost it."

"Lost what? What happened?" Tucker clutched his beret in frustration. "You guys aren't making any sense!"

"You're better off not knowing," Danny said. "Anyway, Sam, continue, please."

"Ecto-blasts can burn metal." Sam held up the poor piece of abused metal that Danny had used as target practice. "And this thing's supposed to be ghost proof." She ticked off something on her list and continued, "Ecto shield is strong enough to hold up a slab of stone. Ghostly wail, well, didn't need to try that out without bringing down the whole mansion. How'd you manage to not knock down your own house anyway?"

"Mom and Dad had the lab ghost proof for that training session so no excess energy could leak out," Danny explained. "I gotta say, it worked despite my doubts."

"Ice blasts, good statue," Sam smirked. Tucker looked at the ice statue of the three of them together. They were all sitting on a park bench and laughing. "Really realistic. As for duplication, you could split into four with effort and into two without any effort."

"I still have to concentrate to maintain it," Danny said. "I could already split into four with Vortex but it only lasted a moment. This time, I could last a lot longer."

"I wouldn't call ten minutes a lot," Sam said, looking at the numbers scribbled next to the note.

Danny rolled his eyes and said, "Anything else?"

"Target practice was good and yada yada." Sam flipped idly through her papers. "Now, I want to find out if you've got any new powers."

"How do I do that?"

"I had this idea running around in my head for a while," Sam started. "Ever heard of telekinesis?" Danny nodded while Tucker just looked confused. "Do you think you could do it?"

"Um, how?"

"I dunno." Sam shrugged. "Just focus or something, I guess."

"That's sooo helpful, Sam," Danny said sarcastically. Shaking his head at his friend's advice, he closed his eyes and muttered, "Okay, then…hang on while I figure this out." He let his mind go blank. There was, however, one thought that didn't leave. ' _This is really stupid. What exactly am I supposed to do?_ ' He banished it and decided to go with the flow.

The halfa opened his green eyes and focused on the speedometer Sam had used to clock his speed. He raised a hand and tried to reach for his ghostly energies. They came easily and his hand glowed green. Then, concentrating so hard that it seemed nothing existed except for the speedometer and himself, he tried to focus his energies onto the clocking device.

To their surprise, the device began to glow the same green as Danny's hand. When the ghost boy moved his hand to the right, it wobbled up into the air and shakily went over to the right.

"You're doing it, Danny!" Sam said in a low voice, trying not to disturb her boyfriend's concentration. "Try making it fly around or something."

Danny began to wave his arm all over the place, the clocking device following his movements in a crazy pattern. In a few moments, he released his hold and the speedometer fell to the ground with a loud crash.

"Well," he said weakly, "that's new." Danny closed his eyes, breathing heavily.

"You didn't break it, did you?" Tucker whined, rushing over to the speedometer and checking it carefully. "YES! SAVED!"

Sam repressed a snicker at Tucker's antics and put a hand on Danny's shoulder. "You okay?"

"Yep." The halfa opened his eyes. "That's just really straining on my mind."

"Now that we know you can do telekinesis, try teleporting," Sam suggested, picking up her clipboard.

"Remember Freakshow?" Danny reminded her.

"I mean _real_ teleportation," Sam shot back.

"Okay, okay." Danny got up and closed his eyes.

His whole body began to glow in a green light and his form flickered. With a flash, the ghost teen disappeared altogether.

Sam blinked, clearing the flash out of her eyes. "Wow." The Goth girl got up and spoke to the empty air, "Danny?"

"There's only one place Danny could've gone." Tucker drew himself up dramatically.

"Where's that, Tucker?" Sam tried to refrain from sounding too harsh.

"The bathroom!" The African-American rushed upstairs. "Every boy must love the bathroom!"

"Eh?" Sam stared after her friend. Then something clicked in her head. "AGH! Oh no, you don't, Danny!"

She ran out after Tucker. After she ran up, a figure materialized by the ceiling. It turned out to be a dazed Phantom.

"Huh?" He scratched his white hair, staring bemusedly at where the two had disappeared. "Is something wrong?" Realization dawned on Danny's face. "Hang on. Tucker didn't! I'M NOT IN THE BATHROOM!" he yelled. The two ran down to see Danny glaring at them. "Geez. Give a guy a break, can't you?"

"Okay." Sam looked skeptical but decided to believe the floating ghost teen. "Well, did it work?"

"Uh, I did find myself up here, didn't I?" Danny gestured around him. "I was invisible and thought I should check if it really did work. Then you guys ran out and I realized what Tucker thought I did."

"Hey, you _did_ go into the girls' locker room." Tucker shrugged innocently.

"That was when you made that wish!"

"Are you sure you didn't do it any other time?" Tucker smirked as Danny blushed, remembering the incident with Desiree when Sam had accidentally made that wish. Sure, he had gotten all his memories back along with, well…let's just say a few "extra" memories.

Before Sam could broach the subject of Danny's powers any further, her boyfriend's ghost sense went off. The white-haired teen sighed and phased through the ceiling with a last,

"Follow me!"

Tucker gaped and then said, "Does he seriously expect us to phase through the ceiling after him?"

"Dunno." Sam ran into the lab and carried two ecto-guns. "Here." She tossed him one. "Time to show me if you're really as good as an aim as you said you were."

Tucker fumbled in the process of catching the ecto-gun and dropped it, accidentally setting it off and hitting the soda machine. It started to spray the whole basement.

"Nope. That was Danny all right." Sam ran up.

"Eh?" Tucker picked up the ecto-gun. "When did I say that?" He noticed that he was alone and getting drenched from the soda. "What the—? Come on, guys! Don't leave me!" Tucker sprinted up the stairs.

* * *

"You must a moron to notice the ghost you're standing in," the Fenton Finder said in a dull voice.

"I really need to give this to Dad to fix," Danny grumbled, twiddling around with a knob. It switched to the grid. "Finally." It showed three small dots several blocks away. "Better not be those lame ghosts again."

Danny flew off to the site and turned invisible shortly before turning the corner. What he saw was Johnny 13 and Kitty apparently having another spat.

"I'm telling you, Johnny!" Kitty was shouting. "This isn't Paris!"

"I could've sworn the map said 'Paris,' " Johnny replied.

"What map?"

"Er, the map you gave me?"

Danny rolled his eyes at Johnny's stupidity. Still, something was off with this fight. Maybe it was their body movements, or the fact that Shadow seemed a bit more nervous than usual, but _something_ was off.

"If you want Paris," Danny broke in, "you might want to fly over an ocean. Its way over in Europe."

"It's Phantom!" Kitty shouted a bit too obviously.

"Uh, duh." Danny raised an eyebrow. "Am I someone else?"

Johnny moved his lips and the next thing Danny knew was that he was enveloped in darkness.

' _Aw, crud!_ ' the ghost boy thought furiously. ' _I should've paid attention to his shadow! Still, I know its weakness is light, so…_ ' His hands lit up with green energy. '… _all I have to do is destroy it from the inside out._ '

Johnny's shadow began to squirm under the green light that was becoming visible. Suddenly, it burst into shreds, leaving nothing but a green-eyed floating ghost kid.

"If you're really here for Paris why aren't you going there?" Danny asked.

"Which way's Paris?" Johnny shot back stupidly.

If Danny had been in an anime, he would've crashed into the street.

"Aargh! Who cares about Paris!" Kitty floated up to Danny's level and started shooting stuff out of her handbag. It turned out to be lipsticks.

Danny blasted a few with his ecto-blasts and dodged the rest. He flew in close to Kitty and before she could react, punched her straight into a lamppost.

"Kitty!" Johnny revved up his motorcycle and jumped into the air. "You'll pay!"

"Can it be an I.O.U?" Danny inquired. "I don't have any money on me right now." To prove his point, he gestured at his belt, where there were no pockets. ' _Well, I **can** keep my wallet in there but I forgot to do so. Guess I shouldn't tell him that._ '

Johnny reached for a hidden compartment in his motorcycle and pulled out a chain with a spiky ball attached to the end of it. He held on to the stick end of the chain and began to whirl it around furiously. The teen's eyes flashed a violent green as he let go of the chain, leaving the weapon to fly straight towards the defenseless halfa. Or, rather, a defenseless and _intangible_ halfa.

"You need to work on your aim." Danny reached for his belt and held up the Fenton Electrifier. "I, on the other hand, don't have to."

"Why's that?" Johnny screeched, in the air that is, to a halt in front of Danny.

"'Cause you're right in front of me." Danny grinned and threw the activated Electrifier at Johnny. Unfortunately, he had forgotten all about his girlfriend and was surprised when a compact mirror struck the weapon and knocked it down. "What the—?"

"Don't let your guard down when there's two of us," Kitty snarled.

"That's not something a ghost should say," Danny reprimanded her. "That's giving me advice." He paused and then added, "Well, thanks for it anyway."

"And you call _me_ stupid," Johnny said. He was hit in the head by Kitty's handbag. "Ow!"

' _While they're distracted…_ ' Danny glanced over to the motionless Electrifier on the ground below. '… _I can go get the Electrifier._ '

Without warning, he sped off to the ground. He was so intent on his target that he didn't even notice the whistling of the air before Johnny's motorcycle hit him and sent him crashing into the side of a building. Danny looked up, dazed, to see the ghostly teen looking over his "baby".

"You didn't have to throw it at him!" he snapped at Kitty.

"Well, _somebody_ had to stop the kid from getting that weird stick and it wasn't going to be you," Kitty retorted.

"Then throw your handbag at him!"

"WHAT? That's my baby!"

"My motorcycle is my baby! Can't you respect that?"

"It's a machine!"

"Oh, and what's your handbag then? A dog?"

Danny attempted to make a dive for the Electrifier but was blocked by a kit in his way. A closer look revealed it to be a makeup kit. Before the teen could react, it exploded and knocked him back several feet into the building. Again.

Danny reached for his belt but realized that with the battle with the Fright Knight, most of his weapons had been destroyed or knocked away. He hadn't bothered to replace them. He could transform back into Fenton but doing so would attract their attention and he didn't want to do that.

' _What do I do? What do I do?_ ' Danny turned his mind over his possibilities before remembering what Sam had asked him before, _"Ever heard of telekinesis?"_ ' _That's it!_ '

Danny put one hand behind his back and started to concentrate. With his other, he reached for his belt and pulled out a spare Specter Deflector that Jack had given him. With half his mind on his new power and the other on his weapon, he spoke,

"Hey!"

Johnny and Kitty broke from their argument and glared at the ghost boy. "What?"

"Wanna try out this new belt?" Danny suggested slyly, holding it out with his free hand. When they glanced at each other, Danny moved his focus to the Electrifier and tried to imagine it moving.

"What kind of belt is that?" Kitty asked suspiciously.

"Only the newest fashion statement," Danny said airily. Kitty's eyes shone. "Take it."

He flipped it on quickly and tossed it at her before it could shock him. While she was occupied with catching the belt, he shot a quick ecto-beam at Johnny, distracting him momentarily so that the halfa could move his hand. Danny lifted up his glowing hand and the Electrifier followed

"AARGH!" Kitty had caught the belt.

"Kitty!" Her boyfriend turned to Phantom. "What'd you do to her?"

Danny ignored him and whipped his hand around so that the Electrifier whacked Johnny in the shins, paralyzing the pale-haired teen.

"Yes!" Danny brought the Electrifier to his location and caught it, nullifying the telekinesis he had used on it. "Whew. That took a while." He blinked, his vision going in and out of focus. "Guess I should work on that before using it again."

"YOU!" Kitty shrieked, diving towards the boy.

"Me." Danny stepped aside and the furious ghost banged into the wall he had been leaning against. "Who else did you expect? The Box Ghost?"

"My, my," a silky voice said from behind Danny. The boy froze. "One gets a new power and thinks everything will be a piece of pie?"

Danny turned around and looked to see…Johnny's shadow. "Eh?"

"Shadow?" Johnny looked up from his face-full of concrete dirt.

"What? Oh, you mean this pathetic thing?" Johnny's shadow gestured towards its body.

"You can talk?" Danny asked, dumfounded.

"No, it's the coffee. Yes, dimwit, I can talk. Or rather, _you_ can talk." It grinned.

Danny backed up, a horrified expression on his face. "No way. _No way._ How'd you get out? Clockwork has you!"

"Yes, well…" It made a face, or at least a weird expression. "I'm not exactly out out, per say. Rather, my _shadow_ is." It grinned again and it gave Danny the creeps. "Quite easy once you know how to do it. Taking over this dimwit's shadow was even easier." It cast a glance over the two cowering ghosts. "But then, what do you expect from a dimwit?"

"I won't turn into you!" Danny's face twisted into an unreadable expression. "Ever! I—"

"Promised, I know," the shadow, or rather, Phantom, interjected. "Honestly, looking at you makes me glad I gave up my human half." Phantom smiled evilly. "As you will, too, eventually."

Danny clenched his fists. "I don't care what you think! I don't care what kind of future you think I have! And most of all, _a promise is a promise!_ " He shot an ecto-beam at Phantom but the shadow simply created a hole for it to go through.

"Boring." Phantom glared at Danny. " _Expect me, younger self._ " It started to fade. "It will all happen. Count on it."

"And you can count on me not turning into you!" Danny yelled, shooting two more ecto-beams at the vanishing shadow. They simply hit the mailbox behind it, which burst into flames. "Aaargh!" He turned to the two ghosts who had been silent during the interchange. "Where did he go?" he demanded. "Tell me!"

"I-I don't know," Johnny stammered. The biker got up and started to back up. "It simply appeared in the Ghost Zone when me and Kitty were arguing. It then started to go on about if we don't serve it, it was going to do to us what will happen ten years in the future."

Danny paled. He remained silent for a few more moments before saying darkly, "Go back to the Ghost Zone and don't let me catch you around here anymore."

"But what about Paris?" Johnny said feebly. Danny shot him a glare and the darkly-clad ghost began to stammer again. "Uh – but – um – if you really want us to go, we'll go, right, Kitty?" He shot a glance to his girlfriend only to find her jumping onto his motorcycle.

Danny's hands started to glow green. "You going back yet or do I have to catch you myself?" He gestured to the thermos on his belt to prove his point.

"We're going, we're going!" Johnny leapt onto his bike and vanished with Kitty.

The moment they disappeared, Danny sagged and leaned against a lamppost for support, only for the whole thing to fall down with a loud crash. He winced before sighing and cast a rueful glance over the damage caused.

"Danny!" He turned to see his friends running towards him. They stopped before him, panting.

"You're late," Danny said shortly.

"I know. My mom didn't want me to go." Sam flushed. "Then we ran into…somebody."

"Who was it?"

"Uh, someone with bangles, dark hair, and a serious mental attitude who can't help herself to save her life," Tucker supplied helpfully.

"You don't mean Desiree, do you?"

"Um, yeah." Sam looked uncomfortable. "We had a little trouble with her."

"How much trouble could you have with a wishing ghost when all it takes is a simple wish?"

Sharing another glance, Sam and Tucker told Danny what happened.

_Flashback:_

**"Tucker!" Sam yelled. "Hurry up! Who knows what kind of a ghost Danny's facing?"**

**"Trying," Tucker wheezed. "Must…not…give…up. Keep…running."**

**Sam rolled her eyes and pointed her ecto-gun at him threateningly. The African-American gulped and sped up.**

**Before they could round the corner, a green mist surrounded them, preventing them from moving any further.**

**"What are your wishes, children?" a mystic voice floated around them.**

**"Desiree," Sam growled. She took out a thermos and said, "I wish—" The rest of her sentence was cut off as her mouth was covered in a green substance.**

**"Ah ah ahhh." Desiree appeared before them, smirking. "Naughty girls don't get their wishes granted, do they?"**

**"Oh yeah?" Tucker burst out. "Try this on for size!" He pulled out a mechanical beret. "The Tucker Beret 10,000 will blow your socks off!" He paused and then added, "Well, your hair technically but that's not the point."**

**If Sam could've groaned she would've. She aimed her gun at Desiree and fired, only for the shot to miss as the wishing ghost whipped around the green substance to appear before her. The ghost blasted her into a car with a well-placed ecto-beam.**

**"Sam!" Tucker dropped his mechanical beret to rush to her side but was blocked by the genie.**

**"Sorry. But you two will have to leave the ghost boy alone with his opponents," Desiree breathed into his face.**

**"Why?" Tucker asked defiantly.**

**Desiree shrugged. "He simply wishes it to be so."**

**"Who's he?"**

**Desiree cast him a baleful look. "How should I know? The only thing visible of the guy is a shadow."**

**"A shadow?" Tucker could've sworn his heart skipped a beat.**

**"Get down, Tucker!" a scream from behind Desiree shocked the mayor to no ends. He did, however, throw himself to the floor before Desiree flew over his head, barely missing knocking off his beret.**

**Tucker looked up to see a furious Sam, minus gag, with a smoking ecto-gun.**

**"So it really is him, isn't it?" Sam said furiously. "Maybe you can tell me what happened between the two!"**

**"Hmm?" Desiree appeared puzzled. "Do the shadow and the ghost boy have history with each other?"**

**"You could say something like that," Sam muttered. She shot Tucker a glance.**

**' _What does she want me to do?_ ' Tucker wondered. He saw his friend throw him another glance and then shift her eyes over to something by him. He followed her eyes to see his own ecto-gun. ' _I see._ ' Tucker moved over to pick up the gun softly. His eyes roved over to his invention but he moved his glance quickly. ' _No time to think about that now._ '**

**While Sam was keeping Desiree's attention elsewhere, Tucker readied the ecto-gun. He aimed it and fired. The ghost was caught by surprise and crashed into the car Sam had been thrown into.**

**"Ha! Now"—Sam pulled out the thermos—"time to go bye-bye!"**

**"Wait, Sam!" Tucker ran to retrieve his invention. "Let me try this out first!"**

**"Tucker," she said, repressing a snarl from coming into her voice, "we don't have _time_ for this."**

**"This'll take care of the job perfectly," he reassured her.**

**"Eh?" Sam raised an eyebrow as Tucker placed the machine on top of the wishing ghost's head and pressed a small button on the side. It flashed once and Tucker stepped back.**

**"Go ahead now," he told the Goth girl.**

**"Um, what was supposed to happen?" Sam sucked Desiree in.**

**"Neutralize any and all ghost powers," Tucker said proudly. He added, "Along with giving her a _really_ bad hairdo and a totally un-cool look."**

**A loud bang and a crash from a little away distracted their attention.**

**"Danny!"**

_End Flashback._

"Okay, that makes sense." Danny scratched his hair. "But why didn't Tuck wish her into the thermos sooner?"

"Uh—" Danny and Sam turned their gazes to Tucker. "'Cause, I kinda forgot. Heh."

Sam rolled her eyes. "Obviously." She folded her arms and stared expectantly at Danny. "Well? What happened?"

"What happened what?"

"What happened between you and the other ghosts?"

"What ghosts?" Danny avoided her eyes.

At this point, Sam grabbed her boyfriend's shoulders and began to throttle him, much to the alarm of Tucker.

"Danny! That's _enough_! I understand that you don't want us to get involved but the fact is: We _are_ involved! So, whether or not you like it, get this through your skull: WE'RE INVOLVED!" she screamed.

"Sam?" Tucker squeaked.

"What?" she snapped, shooting daggers at the techno geek.

"Everyone's staring at you."

Sam looked around and saw that there were quite a few interested passer-bys and began to chuckle nervously. "Ah ha ha. Er, nothing to see here, people. Just, uh, another ghost fight." She was blinded by a camera flash and snapped at the person who did it, " _And no pictures_! Jeez, people! Phantom's already having trouble with his life!"

"I am?" Danny looked confused.

Sam repressed the urge to bang herself with her ecto-gun. "Yes, you are having trouble. Now, let's just go back home."

* * *

"And don't think you're off the hook just yet, ghost boy!" Sam said irritably. Danny had attempted to sneak away after depositing them in Sam's basement. She grabbed his jumpsuit and pushed him down into an armchair. "You are going to tell us _every. Single. Little. Detail._ "

Danny sighed, transformed back, and slumped down in his seat. Sam and Tucker sat down, too.

"In short, Johnny 13 and Kitty showed up, arguing about going to Paris. The fact is, they weren't even going to Paris but instead were there on a mission. _He_ was the one who sent them under the threat of doing exactly what had happened to them ten years from now," Danny started.

"What happened ten years from now?" Tucker asked.

Danny ignored him and continued, "After I banged up the two of them, Johnny's shadow came back and _talked._ It wasn't really it but rather him. He…" The halfa paused and then continued in a strangled voice, "…he said that I should expect to turn into him. He said that I should 'count on it.' " Danny cleared his throat and turned away, obviously not going to continue.

Sam sighed and rubbed her temples. "Danny, you're going to have to face this phobia sooner or later."

"And you want it to be sooner rather than later?"

"With the way things are going, it looks to be that way."

"Last time, Sam," Danny said in a hollow voice, "I barely managed to subdue him. It took everything, and I mean _everything_ , to get him into that stupid thermos." He took a breath and continued, "He didn't even expect me to have the ghostly wail but now he does. In short, he's prepared. He's got _ten years_ of experience that I don't have. He's got more powers than I'll ever have and is far more…" he broke off.

"In short, one bad dude," Tucker finished for his friend.

Danny cracked a smile. "I'm not sure 'dude' is the right word for him."

Tucker mused over that one. "Guess you're right."

"You have two more new powers," Sam reminded Danny. "Telekinesis and teleportation. You're going to have to hone them but they're there. He won't be expecting that."

"Note to whatever book you're writing that down in: he knows I have telekinesis," Danny said bitterly. "He saw that I whacked Johnny with the Electrifier using that power. That's one power down the drain and 'sides, teleportation isn't that big of a power." He shrugged. "It's just about moving from one place to the other and that won't be a very big help."

"But the flash from it will," Sam said, remembering when Danny had first done it. "It'll blind him temporarily, giving you enough time for a sneak attack."

Danny sighed and closed his eyes tiredly. "I'm not sure if we should be discussing this. After all, nothing's certain right? Clockwork has him in possession and he won't let him escape. After all, he _is_ the master of time, right?"

"Right," the other two intoned.

Silence.

"BEWARE!" A certain blue ghost poked his head through the movie screen. "Have you seen the Cake Ghost? He promised me bubble wrap."


	8. Training

Inside Clockwork's castle, through an archway in the room of a giant swirling circle, is a thermos. A battered, old, dented Fenton Thermos.

It rattled. Another dent formed and it shook even more violently. A dark laugh filled the air as the cap began to crack just a little more open. Green ecto-energy leaked out and crept along the table the thermos lay on. The thermos rattled again.

All this did not go unnoticed as a dark shadow watched silently, never moving as the thermos and the ghost sealed within it continued their long fight. Who would win? Only the master of time knew the outcome. Clockwork's face emerged from the shadows, a man.

"What must be done must be done," the wise ghost murmured, glancing at the thermos as it rattled once again. More ecto-energy swirled out. "It's the only way to truly destroy him." The glowing orb in the other room shifted to an image of a ruined Amity Park where the evil Phantom laughed over it all. "Even if I risk causing _that_ future." The thermos got another huge dent.

Another dark laugh filled the castle as Phantom continued to rattle the thermos. The gap between the cap and the body of the thermos widened significantly more but didn't open. Not just yet.

Clockwork drifted out of the room, an old man, giving the thermos one last glance before leaving it alone. Green ecto-energy continued to gather around it as Phantom's power leaked through.

* * *

That night, Danny had one of the worst nightmares he ever had since the incident with his older self. He lay in bed, tossing and turning, and thoroughly tangling himself up in his covers. The ghost boy gritted his teeth and turned onto his side, clenching his fists as his mind endured another nightmare.

_Dream:_

**"Get lost! _Get lost_!" Danny unleashed a ghostly wail against the older ghost. It had no effect. "Why?" He collapsed. "Why doesn't it work?"**

**"Why doesn't it work, you say?" Phantom stepped out. "You're weak. Your human self does nothing but drag you down."**

**"I don't believe you!" Danny yelled back defiantly. "I _will_ defeat you!"**

**"How?" Phantom sneered. "Everything you love is gone."**

**"No, it's not! No, it's _not!_ " Danny looked around at his surroundings. Amity Park lay in ruins. "My friends. They're still alive!"**

**"But for how long?" Phantom stepped to the side, throwing back his cape, revealing a boiler with Danny's loved ones strapped to it. "Time is a ticking bomb, Danny. Sooner or later, it explodes on you, just as this boiler will on your friends and family. Or should I say, _my_ friends and family."**

**"Don't!" Danny cried. He tried to reach them but was thrown back by an ectoplasmic blast to the chest.**

**"All you can do is simply watch as your time runs out." Phantom laughed. "And then, you'll turn into me. I'm inevitable."**

**"I defeated you once before and I'll do it again!" Danny declared. He was knocked down again by a ghost ray.**

**"How? Your ghostly wail? Don't forget. I have one, too." Phantom took a deep breath and unleashed it. The green sonic rings hit Danny and blew him backwards into a building, which collapsed around him. "You can't surprise me anymore. I know all of your tricks."**

**"Unh." Danny phased through the mess. An ominous hissing drew him out of his dazed state. "No!"**

**"Yes." Phantom blocked Danny from flying to them. "Watch as your whole life tumbles down around you. And then, you'll have no choice but to turn into me."**

**"I won't! I won't _ever_ turn into you!"**

**"That promise again? You are _such_ a child. Promises don't fulfill anything. Learn it and live with it." Phantom lifted Danny up by the jumpsuit's collar. "But then, you've already been living with it for the last so many months. Under your heroics, there's always that small little fear that you will turn into me. You know it and you fear it because you _know_ that no matter what you do, you will turn into me."**

**"Mom!" Danny managed to choke out. "Dad!" He turned intangible and slipped through Phantom's grasp. He then phased through the ground and flew out at top speed towards the boiler, which was becoming dangerously hot.**

**"It's too late." Danny heard Phantom's word as an echo as the boiler exploded, blowing him backwards.**

**"NOOOOOO!" he cried, as the scene before him went up in flames. He crashed into the ground and skidded into a lamp post.**

**"You failed," Phantom sneered, stepping before the shocked halfa. "What good did your promise do to your friends and family now? I'll tell you, Danny, that it accomplished nothing. You will turn into me." He fired up a ghost ray and aimed it at Danny. "Ironic, isn't it?" were the last words Danny heard as the ghost ray hit him, lighting every cell in his body on fire.**

"AAARGH!" Danny awoke with a loud cry and slipped through his bed, floor, and the ground floor to land in the lab. "OW!" He sat up, wincing. "A dream?" He fell back onto the lab floor, forgetting that he wasn't in bed. Danny let out a groan as his head met the hard tile. "Right. I'm not in bed."

"Danny?" he heard his mom call. "Where are you?"

Danny was about to reply before remembering that he could try to teleport. He transformed and concentrated while his body was enveloped in a green light. With a flash, he reappeared before his family.

"Oops." Danny had teleported to where his room was but outside the window. He phased through it and landed on his bed, transforming back. "I was in the lab."

"Was it a ghost?" Jack shouted, a nightcap on his head and a teddy bear in his arms.

Danny stared at it before deciding that he didn't want to know. "Um, not quite. I phased through my bed, floor, floor again, and landed in the lab."

"Was it a nightmare, sweetie?" Maddie asked, sitting down on the bed.

"No!" Danny said nervously. "What makes you think that? I just…had a really weird dream."

Jazz stepped in. "Danny's fine, Mom. We'll talk about it in the morning."

"All right." Maddie gave Danny one last worried look as Jazz shooed her parents out before closing the door.

"All right, little brother," Jazz said, "you're going to tell me what that nightmare was about."

"I already said I didn't have a nightmare!" Danny insisted, remembering to keep his voice low.

"That might work on Mom and Dad but it won't work on me. Sam and Tucker told me about you not telling anyone what's going on," Jazz persisted.

"Should've figured," Danny muttered, burying his face in his pillow. "I don't want to talk about it."

"Was it about him?" Jazz asked, remembering her short encounter with Phantom.

"No." Danny decided to make up a dream on the spot. "It was about the Lemonade Ghost and the Lunch Lady. They'd decided to take over the world using lemons." It wasn't entirely untrue as he had thought about it before going to sleep.

Jazz sighed and sat down in Danny's desk chair. "That's gotta be the lamest excuse for a nightmare I know. I'm not leaving this room until you tell me what that dream was about."

"Stupid psychotherapy," Danny muttered.

Jazz smiled.

"You really mean it, don't you?"

When she nodded in response Danny groaned and ran his hands through his black hair. "Don't tell Mom and Dad. I don't want them to know."

"It was about him, wasn't it?" Jazz said. Danny nodded. "It's just a nightmare composed of your fears, Danny. Everyone gets them."

"Like your nightmares of Bearbert Einstein suddenly rejecting you?"

Jazz shot him a glare.

"I heard you mutter in your sleep. Sure you're not in need of any help?"

"This is not about me, it's about you, Danny," Jazz said stiffly.

"Don't want to talk about it, huh?" Danny retreated hastily as he saw Jazz pick up a heavy book threateningly. "All right, all right." He took a breath and assumed a more serious pose. "That dream was about him, okay? Happy?"

"Details, Danny."

"Boiler, you, and the most evil ghost in existence," Danny said shortly.

Jazz repressed a groan. "I can let the Box Ghost out and keep you from a thermos for as long as I like. Worse, I can let every single annoying ghost out and have them harass you until you tell me what that dream was about."

Danny had no doubt that Jazz would at least try to carry out her threat and opened his mouth. "It was mostly about me turning into him. It's my classification of a nightmarish realm. A world where I…where I can't do _anything_ because _he's_ there and hindering all my moves. A world where all of you are in danger of dying at any moment. A world where that really happens and he ends it all by saying that I'll turn into him. A world where there's no Clockwork to fix my mistakes because I was so _stupid_ to even consider it in the first place. That's my classification of a realm where my worst nightmare is." He lay down. "You do the math and find out how much of that transferred over into my dream."

"Danny," Jazz said softly, "you can't change the past. But you can change the future. Heck, you can change the _present_ by choosing to do something different than what you were originally going to do. That's what I think your older self is made up of. Your bad choices."

Danny snorted derisively.

"What?"

"He's made up of bad choices? Oh, I wish that were true. Then I could just bust him into nothing by making a good choice. As it is, he's made up of my ghost half and Vlad's ghost half," Danny said.

"He was still _created_ because of a bad choice," Jazz said. She paused. "Wasn't he?"

"I guess…" Danny didn't want to go into details about how his older self had killed him, or the future him anyway, and left to destroy the world in only ten years.

"You have to stop worrying about turning into him because you said you wouldn't, right?" When she received a nod in reply, she continued, "As long as you have that drive, you won't turn into him. Ever. Technically, he shouldn't even be here as none of us died after the C.A.T. And that's all thanks to you, little bro."

' _She doesn't know Clockwork has him **outside** of the time stream. Technically, that means he can come back at any time and make my life a living nightmare. Does that mean he doesn't need me anymore to exist?_ '

"Danny. Danny. _Danny._ " Danny broke from his reverie to see Jazz staring at him, annoyed. "If you space out like that, it's no good for me to talk to you." She narrowed her eyes. "Unless there's something you're not telling me?"

"No, no, noooo," Danny said hurriedly. He plastered a grin onto his face, hoping it seemed sincere enough.

"Stop that. It's creeping me out."

"Sorry." Danny dropped the grin. It felt fake anyway.

"Just go to sleep." Jazz got up and opened his room door. Before stepping out she turned around and smiled a tender smile at her little brother. "Just remember, Danny, no matter _what_ happens, I'll always be here for you. Count on that."

Danny smiled at his older sister. "Thanks, Jazz." He then let a mischievous grin cross his features and added, "But don't let that think you can still hover protectively around me. I need my space."

Jazz merely smiled and whispered a "good night" before closing the door, leaving Danny alone in the dark. The ghost-fighting teen lay down in his bed and tried to fall asleep again. It claimed him slowly, but not before the wound from the Soul Shredder gave an ominous throb. Danny fell asleep, not thinking about it.

* * *

"HAHAHAHAHA! I AM THE CAKE GHOST! ONE CANNOT CATCH ME WITH SOUP CANS!" a certain icicled ghost was cackling. It zoomed over buildings.

It was chased by none other than an extremely irritated Danny Phantom.

Danny groaned and refrained from swearing as he made a right turn to chase after the obstinate ghost. He was going to be late for school at this rate.

"CAKE GHOST!" Danny shouted. "STOP NOW OR I'M REALLY GOING TO BLOW YOUR SOCKS OFF!" He paused and then muttered, "Actually, your strawberries but that sounds stupid."

"BLOW MY SOCKS OFF? I HAVE NO SOCKS! HA!" The Cake Ghost turned around and Danny could've sworn it was blowing a raspberry at him. "EAT _MY_ DUST!"

"I don't think so." With a sudden burst of speed, Danny swept around the Cake Ghost and stopped in front of it. "I've got my speed up and you, unfortunately, can't match it." He flicked open the thermos and sucked the Cake Ghost in. "Now that I'm officially late for school, I'm going."

"BEWARE!" The Box Ghost appeared above a building about thirty meters away. "PREPARE TO FACE YOUR CARDBOARD DOOOOM!"

"I just can't get a break, can I?" Danny set off in chase of the Box Ghost and caught him in two minutes. " _Now_ I'll go to school." No sooner had he turned around did a familiar pitcher flew by him, followed by a legion of lemons, both ripe and unripe. "Oh, you've got to be kidding me!"

"Kidding pudding or lemonade?" the Lemonade Ghost chimed.

"Eh?" Danny stopped in midair. "Kidding pudding?" The Lemonade Ghost began to swell up. "Is there such a thing?"

"NO KIDDING PUDDING FOR YOU, BOY! NAUGHTY TEENAGERS DON'T GET DESSERTS!" the Lemonade Ghost roared.

"I knew that would happen," Danny muttered, turning intangible as the lemons began to attack him with lemon juice. He turned tangible again and said, "Any other ghosts lined up to fight me later?"

"DIE!" it cackled, the lemonade in it sloshing around. Before it could get another word out, Danny had sucked it into the thermos.

"Before another ghost can even _think_ about showing up, I'm going." Danny turned tail and flew at his top speed to school.

Danny turned intangible and phased through the roof to maneuver his way to Mr. Lancer's classroom. He phased through the ceiling and turned tangible, much to the shock of the entire class.

"The Invisible Man! Mr. Fenton!" Mr. Lancer clutched his chest. He took a breath and then said as calmly as he could, "You're late."

"I know." Danny slid into his seat and transformed back, blinding the nearest people. "Sorry. I had three ghosts to take care of that wouldn't leave me alone. One just wouldn't shut up about cake."

"There's a ghost that obsesses itself over cake?" Star, Paulina's "satellite", asked.

"Don't ask. For the record, there's a Lemonade and Box Ghost, too."

Mr. Lancer blinked, confused, but steered the conversation away from ghosts. "All right. Back to history, people. Next up, are the pirates of the ocean."

"Does that mean we get to watch _Pirates of the Caribbean_?" Dash inquired hopefully.

"No. This is about real-life pirates, not pirates that look like fish and skeletons."

"For the record," Danny said, "there _is_ a ghost who's a pirate and controls a crew of skeletons."

"Scratching that, I mean pirates who're alive." Mr. Lancer opened up the book on his table. "Turn to page one hundred and twenty-four and begin reading."

' _Maybe this'll give me some tips on how to handle Youngblood next time he shows up,_ ' Danny thought, beginning to read.

Halfway through the lesson, Danny's ghost sense went off.

"Ghost, Mr. Fenton?" Mr. Lancer said.

"Yeah." Before Danny could get up, the ghost in question phased through the ceiling to hover before the ghost boy's desk.

"Hello, ghost child," Skulker said.

"You!" Danny transformed and leapt onto his desk.

"I haven't come to fight." Skulker put up his hands. "Rather, I've come to warn you."

"Warn me about what? Another attack from the Cake Ghost? I've got that handled, thanks."

"Not quite. Although, you _should_ keep an eye out for sweets as they might attack you. Back to the topic I came here to talk to you about." Skulker folded his arms and continued grimly, "You're probably already aware of this already but there's a malevolent shadow plaguing the Ghost Zone."

"I noticed," Danny said. "It's hard to miss if the Fright Knight screams it out for everyone to hear."

"Yes, but this is more serious," Skulker said. "We, the ghosts of the Ghost Zone, are in danger from it. It's already threatened several ghosts with the future in order to control them to get to you."

Danny was uncomfortably aware of the stares of his classmates. "Johnny told me."

"Do you know—?"

"No, I don't," Danny interrupted the hunter. He didn't want anyone to hear about his older self. "It's probably another ghost with a grudge against me for some unfathomable reason that I can't decipher."

"This ghost seems to have history with you, ghost child," Skulker said. "He's already appeared before me to attack you and revealed some…" He glanced at the stares of the students. "…information."

"I have no interest in what you're saying," Danny said.

"What if I told you that he told me that he was—" Skulker broke off as Danny made a slitting motion across his throat.

"He was what?" Valerie asked.

"Nothing," Danny said, realizing that the topic was getting uncomfortably close to dangerous territory. "Skulker, either you get into this thermos I have here or get out. I'm in no mood to deal with you."

"The Ghost Zone is filled with his laughter," Skulker said, ignoring Danny's threat. " _Malevolent_ laughter."

"Aren't you malevolent?"

"I mean it, ghost child. You're the only one that can stop it," Skulker said.

"Why me? Surely there are other ghosts that can take care of it?"

" _Because_ , ghost child, this shadow has business with you. He said it himself," Skulker explained. "The Ghost Zone's very existence depends on you."

"Last time I checked, you didn't care whether or not I was alive or dead, you only wanted me as a trophy," Danny said.

"I still do." Most of the students made disgusted noises at this point. "But I'm willing to put aside this desire until you take care of the problem. He is, after all, your—" Danny crashed into Skulker and nearly missed hitting Mr. Lancer.

"Say good-bye, Skulker." Danny held out the thermos and sucked in Skulker.

"He's coming, ghost child!" was Skulker's last cry. "And he says to expect his wrath!"

Silence reigned in the classroom as Danny went back to his seat, in human form.

Finally, Valerie spoke, "Danny? What was he talking about?"

"Nothing," was the short reply. The ghost huntress didn't miss the significant glance thrown between the three friends.

Mr. Lancer cleared his throat nervously and said, "Now that that little thing is out of the way. Let's continue with the pirates."

' _That was too close. Skulker almost let it slip several times,_ ' Danny thought, not listening to Mr. Lancer's lecture. ' _What would everyone else think if they knew about what I could've turned into? Would they hate me? Fear me? What would Mom and Dad think? Would **they** fear me?_ ' Danny thought back to the flaming-haired ghost with absolutely no conscience that lurked in a non-existent future. ' _Probably. If they knew what kind of power I could possess in the future…no…I don't want to think about it._ ' Danny trailed out of his thoughts as he realized that the whole class was staring at him. "Um, did I miss something?"

"I was asking, Mr. Fenton, what kind of a flag did the pirates have on their ship?" Mr. Lancer repeated his question, annoyed.

"Oh." Danny thought back to Youngblood's pirate ship. "That's easy. A black flag with a skull and crossbones on it." He smiled, relieved.

"Correct." Mr. Lancer turned back to his book and continued in a dull voice, "Some pirates were under hire from various European nations during the discovery of the Americas. Their actions became legal and they flew under their employer's flag to loot other ships of their precious cargo from America."

' _Too close._ ' Danny missed the worried glances shot at him by Sam and Tucker.

* * *

"Danny? You okay?" Tucker sat down next to his friend at the picnic table. Sam sat down on the other side. "Don't listen to Skulker, man, he was probably just—"

"He wasn't lying," Danny said, staring at his sandwich. "That's what Johnny told me, remember? And don't forget Desiree."

"He isn't out yet, Danny," Sam said. "You still have time."

"According to him, my time is up," Danny said, recalling what he had said during their last battle.

"Besides that, you do realize that you look terrible?" Tucker observed his friend's tired eyes. "Nightmares?"

"You know it." Danny sighed and rubbed his eyes. "Last night was relatively ghost free, except for the one in my dream."

"What happened?" Sam asked.

"Him. It felt so… _real,_ too," Danny said. "I couldn't do anything. I was totally helpless. I hated that feeling."

"Did anything happen with that wound from the Fright Knight's sword?" Sam inquired in a low voice.

"Now that you mention it," Danny said slowly, "I thought it gave a throb before I fell asleep again."

"Maybe that's his new power. The power to give people nightmares," Sam said.

"It would suit the guy all right," Danny said. He shifted his shirt so that they could look at the glaring scar. "Hey, it's all red."

"It is?" Both of his friends took a look.

"You're right." Sam sat back in her seat and twiddled her fork. "Does it hurt?"

Danny pressed it subtly and winced. "A little. But only if I apply pressure to it."

"We're going to have to prepare for an all out war, Danny," Sam said quietly, making sure no one was eavesdropping.

"How? We hand out pamphlets to all the ghosts in the Ghost Zone?" Danny asked.

"I'm not too sure that's how it works," Tucker said, scrolling down a list that was visible on his PDA.

"No, we prepare by honing your powers," Sam said patiently.

"Last time I checked, Sam, last-minute training doesn't do a thing against power that has ten years to grow," Danny said in a gloomy voice.

"We can develop your new powers," Sam pointed out. "What powers did you develop after you fought that evil you?"

Danny frowned, trying to remember. "After the C.A.T., Jazz started to stalk me…" Both Sam and Tucker shivered. "…Youngblood attacked, the Reality Gauntlet mess occurred, and…" Realization dawned on his face. "He doesn't have ice powers!"

"And ice powers are definitely more potent than telekinesis and teleportation," Sam said, smiling. "Now we just have to help you train."

"After school, you mean," Danny said as the bell rang.

"Yup."

* * *

"Hi, Mom! Hi, Dad!" Danny yelled as he tramped up the stairs. He ran down two seconds later with a backpack on. "Bye, Mom! Bye, Dad! I'm staying over at Sam's tonight! Love you!" He phased through the door.

"Hi, Danny," Maddie said belatedly. "Wait, he's going to Sam's?"

"You know what that means," Jack said, narrowing his eyes.

"Jack Fenton, you get that idea out of your head right now!" Maddie commanded.

"Yeah, Dad, what harm can come from Danny staying over at his girlfriend's house? Alone, during the night, his girlfriend's house…" Jazz trailed off.

"We'll use the Fenton Telescope!" Jack declared, holding up a prominently white telescope with splotches of green. "It sees through any walls, no matter how thick!"

"I'm not too sure Danny would appreciate this," Jazz protested feebly.

"It's for his own safety," Maddie insisted. Everyone could see she was also talking herself into it.

"He's only sixteen, Mom, it's not like his hormones are in overdrive or anything," Jazz said testily. "Oh wait. Sixteen. Never mind what I said."

"It's settled! Nine o'clock we're tuning the telescope to look in at Sam's house!" Jack said. "Everyone in the Fenton Family Ghost Assault Vehicle, er, I mean RV!"

"Dad, it's only four."

"The sooner the better!"

"They're not going to start _this_ early, are they?" Jazz asked. "Have a little faith in Danny, all right?" She was talking to an empty kitchen. "Oh, come _on_! MOM! DAD!" She grabbed something that looked suspiciously like glowing rope and ran out. "COME BACK HERE!"

* * *

"Again, Danny! This time, we'll meet you on the roof!" Sam instructed the halfa. "Wait for five minutes!"

"Can we make it up there in five minutes?" Tucker wondered.

Sam thought that through. "On second thought, try teleporting us with you."

"Don't blame me if we end up in outer space," Danny warned. "I'm still a newbie at this."

"Hey, you teleported across the room just fine," Sam said.

"Let's see…" Danny pretended to be in thought. "I teleported from the ground to across the room and somehow got to the ceiling."

"Well, at least it worked, right?"

Danny clutched his friends and concentrated really hard on the roof. A green light enveloped all three friends and with a bright green flash, all three teleported to the roof.

"Hey!" Tucker said ecstatically. "We made it!"

"We're in the chimney," Danny said forlornly. "I didn't intend for us to land _in_ the chimney. I was thinking about the _roof._ Isn't there a difference?"

"But it's still the roof!"

"Tuck, you're not helping."

"Just phase us through the brick, Danny; we'll work it out later." Sam patted her boyfriend's arm reassuringly.

Danny turned all three intangible and this time really landed on the sloped roof.

"Now." Sam brushed her skirt free of the soot. "We've got the basics of this power down. It's still a little iffy with the specifics but I think that can be worked out. Now, we'll have to work on speed. In a full-blown battle, you won't have the time to stand around and concentrate enough to move three feet."

"Here, the Fenton Phones." Danny handed them the earphones. "We'll need them for this so you can tell how long it takes for me to get from one place to the next." He turned the roof that the two were standing on intangible and let them slip through. "Come in, guys."

" _We can hear you_ ," Sam's voice came in through the Fenton Phones. " _By the way, you're still Clueless 1._ "

"I thought we worked that through!"

" _Nope, sorry._ "

Danny groaned but said, "Just get down to the basement. When you're ready, time me and see how long it takes."

Several minutes passed and then Tucker's voice said, " _We're ready. Sam's got the watch. Just tell us when you're going to start._ "

"Right…now."

Danny closed his eyes and imagined the lab. He concentrated on his ghostly energies and let himself be surrounded in it. He then let his body be filled with the desire to _be_ there. He felt the distorting of space and the realigning of it a split second later. Danny opened his eyes to find himself in front of the bookshelf that led into the room.

"Hmm. I teleported to the bookshelf out here," Danny said through the Fenton Phones. "We might have to redo that."

" _Gotcha, Clueless 1_ ," Sam said. Danny could hear a beep of a button and knew she had stopped the timer. " _Tell me when you're going to teleport into here. And by the way, that took you a full two minutes._ "

"Now."

Danny repeated the process and found himself in the lab, right in between his two friends.

"Same amount of time," Sam commented, stopping the watch. "We'll have to work on the speed."

"Hey, I'm still getting used to it," Danny defended himself. "It's not easy trying to _be_ somewhere completely different to where you're currently at."

"I know, I know. Just give it a few more tries and tell me the instant you're at the desired location," Sam said. "Try to teleport with your eyes open, too, as the opponent can attack you while you're trying to teleport with closed eyes."

"Start timing…now."

Danny kept his eyes and this time saw the green glow cover his eyes and actually saw, rather than felt, the surroundings warp in around him and then warp outwards as he went someplace. And that someplace else was the kitchen.

"Stop," Danny said, the moment his surroundings stopped distorting themselves. "Oh, sorry, Mrs. Manson. Just practicing."

"Eep," she squealed, a hand over her chest. "Don't do that."

"Where's Mr. Manson? I need to know so I don't accidentally give him a heart attack." Danny listened to Sam. "A minute and a half? Well, that sped up."

"He's in the bedroom," Pamela said.

"Got it. I'll steer clear of that." Danny nodded. "Okay, Sam? I'm going to be teleporting to the lab again."

* * *

"Great, that bonehead still hasn't come back," Ember grumbled in the Ghost Zone, observing the Fenton Portal. "I thought he said he'd only take a minute!"

"He might've gotten caught, you know," Spectra pointed out, floating next to Ember. "Phantom isn't very lenient when it comes to that."

"Yeah, but the dipstick _should_ have been lenient seeing as the guy was trying to _warn_ him."

"He might not have taken the warning seriously," Kitty said.

The group watching the Fenton Ghost Portal was composed of Johnny 13, Ember, Spectra, her stubby assistant Bertrand, Kitty, Desiree, Technus, the Lunch Lady, and several ghosts that were merely green blobs.

"I would've taken the warning seriously," Technus said. "That unhip shadow was – how do you say it? – creepy." The blob ghosts nodded in agreement.

"Say 'unhip' one more time and I'll blast you from one end of the Ghost Zone to the next," Ember snapped.

"As for Phantom," Johnny said, "we always try to harm him so why should he listen to us?" The others stared at him. "What? It's true."

"Yes, but, I shouted it out for everyone to hear," Technus said. "Even though I thought I was over that."

"You obviously aren't," Desiree said. "Even I said something about a shadow to the ghost boy's friends."

"It's staring at him in the face," Bertrand added.

"Maybe Skulker let out too much," the Lunch Lady said. "It's possible."

"What'd that shadow say to you guys?" Ember asked Johnny and Kitty.

"That he'll do to us what will happen to us ten years in the future," Kitty recalled. "It didn't sound pleasant. But then, neither did Johnny's prediction that the Box Ghost would be our children's godfather."

"Get your brain checked," Ember said.

"That shadow told me that it would destroy all my hip technology," Technus said.

"I told you, say 'hip' one more time and I'll blast you from end of the Ghost Zone to the other!" Ember snarled.

"I'm with her on this," Spectra said.

"Aye," the other ghosts agreed.

"Besides Technus's horrible language," Desiree said, ignoring a glare from said ghost, "what else did that shadow say about the halfa? Anything revealing?"

Ember thought back to the time when the shadow had appeared in front of her boyfriend.

_Flashback:_

**"Insolent whelp!" Skulker fumed. "That ghost child's luck will run out!"**

**"Question is, _when_ it will run out," Ember said dryly. "You're not having much luck, are you? That dipstick should be easy enough to catch."**

**"He defeated me by using the typical Box Ghost strategy," Skulker grumbled, letting out some steam by shooting his ecto-guns at some other ghosts.**

**"Box Ghost strategy?"**

**"Namely, he said 'beware' and then ranted on about 'ecto-blasts of doom'," Skulker explained.**

**"I admire your bravery," Ember said sarcastically. "What'd you do? Underestimate him?"**

**"Unfortunately," admitted the hunter. "He froze my armor and then sucked me into that infernal device he calls a thermos. It doesn't even carry soup…"**

**"Hate the ghost child, do you, Skulker?" a voice broke into their conversation.**

**"What the—? Where are you?" Skulker looked around frantically. "Who are you?"**

**"Who I am is of no consequence to anyone." A shadow materialized on the stone ledge next to the two. "What matters is who you _think_ I am. Do you think I'm a shadow? A figment of your imagination? Or do you think that I'm one of the ghosts in the Ghost Zone?"**

**"How can you be a ghost?" Skulker asked. "You're a shadow. And not even a shadow like that pathetic lump of Johnny's."**

**"How amusing," the shadow said. "The fact is, I _am_ a ghost. The shadow of one. And would you believe me if I said that I was the ghost boy's shadow?"**

**"You don't sound like him," Ember observed.**

**"Of course I don't," the shadow answered smoothly. "There's ten years of difference between us."**

**"You're a time-traveling ghost?" Ember asked. She laughed. "Now I've heard everything."**

**"Don't mock me, Ember," the shadow warned, its voice getting dangerously low. "Would you like to know what happens to you in ten years time? If you don't cooperate, I can do just that to you."**

**"What's to fear? I'll probably be a famous singer all over the Ghost Zone _and_ the human world."**

**"And I'll be a hunter, feared across both realms," Skulker added.**

**"One's wish will come half-true," the shadow said. "The other's will be shattered completely. Would you like to find out which ghost's wish will come true?" A flash of red was seen where the face would be. "Carry my message to the ghost boy. I _will_ break free. He shall regret ever underestimating me when the time comes."**

**"Break free from what?" Skulker wondered. But the shadow disappeared, never answering. "Oh, very helpful."**

**"I think you should warn Phantom," Ember suggested.**

**"Don't tell me you've developed feelings for the whelp," Skulker said.**

**"No. I've already heard from several other ghosts that this… _thing_ has appeared before them." Ember stopped before continuing, "It's dangerous and Phantom is the only one who can stop it. He _is_ the one who went up against Pariah Dark."**

**"I never thought you'd be a fan of the ghost child's power."**

**"I'm not. From what the shadow said, he's got a grudge against the halfa and why not throw him the kid? What better way to do so than by 'warning' the ghost boy?" Ember explained. "Also, from the way he spoke of himself, it's also safe to assume that the Ghost Zone—"**

**"Is in danger," Skulker finished. "Very well. I shall go and warn the ghost child. Watch the portal and await my return. It shouldn't take me very long."**

_End Flashback._

"So _that's_ what happened," Technus said. "He does have history with the ghost child."

"History that we can't imagine," Kitty said. "He really is from the future. I never thought the ghost boy would turn evil."

"He's not evil… _yet_ ," Ember added.

"And from that shadow's description," Spectra said, "I doubt we would want to meet him."

Then, an ominous voice was heard. It was… _laughter_. And not the kind of laughter one would expect to hear. It was pure evil. And the very sound of it sent shivers down all the ghosts' spines.

"RUN!" Bertrand shouted.

The laughter continued as the whole troop of ghosts pushed themselves through the portal and into the human realm.

* * *

"Ten seconds," Sam rattled off the numbers displayed on her watch. "Not bad. It only took you…what? Two hours?"

"Okay, teleportation is taken care of," Danny said, wiping off a bead of sweat. "What about telekinesis?"

"I dunno. Besides being able to lift up the whole laboratory table in about half a minute and move it several feet, I don't see much difference," Sam said.

"That's sarcasm!" Tucker said triumphantly. "Yes! I'm not entirely clueless!"

"That's not something to be proud of, Tuck," Sam said. Tucker kept dancing around.

"Ignore him," Danny told her.

"Hard to do that if he's waving his PDA around under your nose while playing a victory song." Sam snatched the PDA out from Tucker's hands and tossed it to Danny, who turned it intangible and phased it into the floor.

"Hey!" Tucker whined, kneeling down to inspect the floor. "I actually managed to finish all my payments on that one!"

"So?" Danny shrugged. "At least you won't have to make payments for something that's completely trashed."

"Okay, joking aside, let's get back to training." Sam turned to Danny. "About your ice powers, what kind of attacks can you already do?"

"Ice blasts, ice balls, icicles, diamonds," Danny rattled off a few. "Why? You should know."

Sam held up a picture of a sword. "Try making this out of ice."

Danny concentrated and soon had a gleaming ice sword. "Wow."

" 'Wow,' indeed, Danny," Sam agreed. She held up a metal plate. "Try cutting this. _Without_ breaking the sword," she added.

Danny lifted up the sword he had formed with his ice powers and brought it down on the metal plate, making a resounding crash. What happened next none of them expected. Instead of breaking the metal plate, the sword broke _itself_ , smattering into hundreds of tiny ice shards.

"Duck!" Tucker yelped, diving under a lab desk while his two friends hid under Danny's intangibility.

"For the record, I blame you," Sam said.

"I know." Danny switched to tangibility and let go of Sam. He grinned sheepishly. "Sorry. Guess I should've made it tougher."

"Got that right, ghost boy," Sam said. "Now, try again. Make the ice really thick."

Danny formed another ice sword, this time it looked really thick and had several layers in it. When Sam held up the metal plate, Danny sliced through it with relative ease as the sword sank through it like cheese.

"Good job. Now try firing ectoplasmic blasts with it," Sam suggested.

"Er…I have a really bad feeling about this but all right." The sword started to glow green and Danny swiped at the air with it, leaving a green blaze of fire in its trail.

"There." Sam smiled brilliantly. "A new power. I don't think your evil future self will be expecting _that._ "

"You're right. Now I just have to think about how I'm going to last long enough to use that against him," Danny said.

"Don't be so gloomy," Sam scolded him. "You've gotten stronger, too, don't forget."

"Yeah! Just look at what the Fright Knight did to you!" Tucker said brightly. Danny stared at him as if he were crazy. "Oh right. That was bad. Never mind what I said. I'll just go back to being the techno geek and the mayor."

"You do that," Sam said. She directed her attention to Danny. "Now, try facing these ecto-guns with your ice powers. Make some armor or something." She showed him a picture of a knight in armor.

"You want me to look like _that_?" Danny asked incredulously. "I won't even be able to move!"

"Hey, you adjust the weight to what you can handle," Sam instructed him. "And it doesn't necessarily have to look like this down to the very last detail. I, for one, would scratch the helmet."

"Oh, and what do I do for my head? Wear a hat?"

"Very funny. Now just do it." Sam sat down on the lab desk by the wall and watched as her boyfriend closed his eyes and focused.

With aching slowness, ice began to creep over Danny's chest and then spread outward. It spread down his arms, his legs, and then surrounded his face to leave a gap for his face so he could breathe, see, and talk. In a few more minutes, he was decked out in gleaming silver armor, courtesy of the Phantom Ice Express.

"Cut it down on the effects and more on the safety issues," Sam complained, pretending to shield her eyes. The ice _was_ blinding. "Now your evil self is going to be defeated from lack of sight 'cause you blinded him."

"It's not that bad, is it?" Danny lifted up an ice-covered hand to inspect it. "I made it as thick as I could."

"It looks cold." Tucker shivered. "How can you stand it?"

"Engaging weapons now." Sam pressed a button on a remote.

Dozens of ecto-guns suddenly appeared out of hatches on the walls and keyed in on Danny. They all began to fire up and shot their blasts at a very nervous ghost boy.

One cloud of green smoke later, Danny was still in his ice armor and had his eyes shut tightly. When he realized he was no longer being bombarded by ectoplasmic blasts, he cracked open one eye and then the other. His face burst into a smile as he found out that he was unmarked from the ecto-guns.

"Yes!" he crowed. "It worked!"

"Now you just have to summon that armor in, oh, five seconds." Sam smirked. "Can't have you sitting around like a duck while your future self sneaks up on you, you know."

"Don't remind me," Danny groaned. His ghost sense went off. He took off the Fenton Finder and turned it on, switching it to the grid before it could drone on about him standing in a ghost. "Okay, there are several ghosts – emphasis on 'several' – hovering by the…music store, TV store…and an artifact store?" Danny stared at it. "Ah well. I'll be going to the music store first. Catch ya later." He teleported in an instant, the green flash temporarily blinding the other two.

"He's not really going to face the ghost at the music store in that armor, is he?" Tucker asked, rubbing his eyes to get the flash out.

"Apparently, he is." Sam got several weapons and threw a couple to Tucker. "Let's go, Tuck. He's got teleportation, but we've got to run."

* * *

"What's Ember doing here?" Danny asked himself, appearing before the music store to see the rock star blasting the customers out. "Hey, Ember! Shouldn't you be somewhere else? Like, the Ghost Zone? Or do I have to dump you there myself?"

"Oh, it's the dipstick." Ember floated up to his level. She stared at him wordlessly for a few moments before saying, "You go to a costume party or something? The iced look is new."

It took Danny a moment to realize that she was talking about his new ice armor. He tried to figure out how to get it off before finding out he didn't know how.

"Something like that." Danny shrugged. "Anyway, mind explaining why you're here now?"

"First off, where's Skulker, dipstick?" Ember glared at the ice-encased halfa.

"Oh, right, I forgot. He's your boyfriend isn't he?" Danny smirked. "I caught him in the thermos. He was blabbering too much for my taste."

"I _told_ him not to do that," Ember said, face-palming.

" _You_ sent him?"

"Well, the shadow who talked to us did want you and I figured, why not?" Ember adjusted her guitar. "I could send him to 'warn' you and then solve two of our problems at once."

"RUN FROM THE SHADOW OF DOOM!" a pumpkin ghost screamed, flashing by the two. Danny stared after it.

"See what I mean?" Ember pointed out. "By the way, thanks for depositing _another_ idiot in the Ghost Zone. As if the Box Ghost and the Cake Ghost weren't enough. You just _had_ to dump in a Lemonade Ghost with the attitude of the Lunch Lady and a pumpkin ghost with Technus's bad language."

"He has bad language? The only thing similar to the two is the fact that both scream out what they're the master of."

"Anyway, dipstick, we need to talk." Ember approached the ghost boy slowly. "I'm sure that stupid grid of yours has already told you but Technus is at the TV store, Desiree is in an old store filled with antiques, and there are several other ghosts around, too."

"I noticed," Danny said, looking at the Fenton Finder. "Why are so many of you here?"

"That's what we have to talk about. I'll be waiting here for you until you get everyone else, dipstick." Ember smirked. "And by the way, release Skulker while you're at it, too."

"And why would I release a ghost who has a manic obsession with getting my pelt to rest at the foot of his bed? Not to mention that by releasing him I'd also release three idiots who keep giving me grief."

Ember wasn't listening as she floated into the music store she had claimed. Her voice floated up to Danny, "I'm waiting, dipstick. Hurry it up."

"Okay, next up…Technus." Danny closed his eyes and teleported to the TV store.

He reappeared inside the store with a flash of green light, thoroughly startling the technology ghost.

"I am Technus!" he started to blabber. "Wizard master of science and—"

"Yeah, yeah," Danny interrupted. "Listen—"

Now _he_ was the one to get interrupted by Technus. "Hmm. Your outfit isn't bad, ghost child. Perhaps _I_ should a deck myself in something like that!"

"Don't," Danny said quickly. "It'll freeze you. Anyway, Ember called a small meeting and that's the _only_ thing keeping me from sucking you into this thermos and dumping you back into the Ghost Zone."

"NEVER!" Technus shouted. "I'LL PERISH FIRST!"

"You're already beyond dead," Danny pointed out patiently. ' _And what's so scary about going back to the Ghost Zone? He **lives** there. Besides, the shadow Skulker warned me about can't be that bad. It's only a shadow._ '

"Oh. In that case, I'll just go now." Technus phased through the ceiling and disappeared from Danny's sight.

"All right then. Desiree's next… And what's up with the freaky television show spelling 'hip'?"

* * *

"Now we're all here," Ember said, looking around at the gathered ghosts.

"DANNY!" Sam and Tucker burst in, ecto-guns firing.

The next several minutes were spent as the ghosts dodged the various ecto-beams and Danny tried to explain it to his friends.

"Oh. So you're talking?" Sam put down her gun. "Why didn't you tell us that before?"

"I tried to! You didn't listen!"

"My bad." Sam shrugged. "You can stop shooting now, Tucker." Sam stared at her boyfriend. "Why are you still dressed out in that ice armor?"

"I thought it was a costume," both Ember and Technus said.

"It's not." Danny rolled his eyes. "I don't know how to get it off."

"Danny, it's _your_ armor, it's _your_ ghost powers. Figure it out yourself," Sam said.

"I don't know. I think it looks cool," Tucker said.

"If this doesn't work, everyone duck," Danny said.

"What are you doing?" Bertrand asked.

"Just…duck!" The armor exploded everywhere. Sam and Tucker dove for the nearest cover, which turned out to be violins whereas the ghosts all turned intangible. A few of the blobby ghosts got pricked by the icicles.

"Well, that works." Danny grinned sheepishly as everyone glared at him. "Ah ha ha. Sorry. Er, anyway, what were we talking about?"

"About what Skulker was trying to warn you about," Ember reminded him. "Dipstick, just release him."

Danny released the hunter without another word, along with three other ghosts.

"Oh, you had to invite the Cake Ghost, didn't you?" Kitty asked, staring as said ghost pelted a green blob with a scone.

"Ignore it." Danny sucked it in again.

"BEWARE! I am the—"

Skulker blasted the Box Ghost with an ecto-gun and sent him flying into a rack full of musical instruments.

"So, Skulker, mind explaining what happened between you, me, and the shadow ghost?" Ember asked her boyfriend.

"I AM THE LEMONADE GHOST! Lemons or lemonade?" the pitcher asked Danny.

"Neither," the ghost boy responded, sucking it in quickly. "Okay, continue."

"Is it true that he's your shadow?" Skulker asked.

"Uh, yes and no," Danny replied, looking uncomfortable. "Look, what's the big deal about a shadow anyway? And what are you guys doing _here_ anyway? Isn't the Ghost Zone your home?"

"Remember what happened with the ghost king?" Johnny asked. Danny nodded. "Well, it's the same thing here. It's not safe back there."

"Yes, sweetheart," the Lunch Lady asked. "Didn't you hear the laughter?"

Danny's ectoplasmic blood ran cold. "Laughter?"

"Yes, dipstick, laughter," Ember repeated impatiently. "You can catch us as often as you like but we'll keep coming back here. That thing is more dangerous than what most of us have ever faced before."

"And you're the only one that can stop it," Spectra supplied.

"Excuse me, but I thought you _fed_ on misery and scratched the pep talks," Sam broke in.

"I'm making an exception here," she shot back. "I can feed on happiness, too, you know."

"Really?" Danny brightened up. "Then why don't you—"

"NO!" Spectra shouted. "Misery is tastier!"

"I wouldn't have thought of that," Tucker said.

"Besides that," Skulker said, "it's true, ghost child, that you're the only one who can stand up to the menace that is currently plaguing the Ghost Zone."

"Meanwhile, you don't mind if we stay here, do you?" Kitty asked.

Danny sighed, contemplating what they had said. "Well, I guess that it's all right." He added severely, "But only if you behave and don't cause any trouble!"

"Oh, we won't cause any trouble." Skulker grinned. "Now, why don't we—" Danny sucked him into the thermos before he could finish his sentence.

"Hey!" Ember said, furious.

"What? You don't think I'm actually going to let him hunt me every hour of the day, do you? In fact, why don't you _all_ stay in the thermos? Where it's nice and safe and I don't have to worry about you?"

Every ghost scattered.

"I had to ask, didn't I?"

"Yep. You did." Sam got up. "Now come on. We're not finished yet."

"Wicked!" Tucker held up his PDA. "I'm going to have _so_ many cool pictures to post on that Danny Phantom website it's going to be awesome."

Danny and Sam stared at him.

"What website?"

* * *

The laughter went on in the Ghost Zone. What ghosts that weren't left quivering in their homes had long fled to the human realm. The shadow stalked the ledges, looking over everything in a satisfied way.

"Finally," it said softly, "I can carry out my revenge. He won't have any chance _but_ to turn into me. Those ghosts have probably already warned him about my appearance here."

"RUN FROM THE SHADOW OF DOOM!" an orange streak nearby screamed. "I HAVE COME TO WARN YOU!"

The shadow remained silent for a moment. "Well, not every ghost has decided to warn him yet."

The shadow dissipated and vanished. Meanwhile, in a certain thermos in a certain castle, a dark streak crept back to within the thermos. The ecto-energies surrounding it had increased and Clockwork was nowhere to be seen.

This time, the thermos's cap began to edge up a little bit more and the green ecto-energy from Phantom's power began to leak through even more. Then, surprisingly, it edged up to surround the cap. A malevolent chuckle filled the air as the ecto-energy began to squeeze the cap off. Another dent formed as Phantom fought against his restraints.

The last thing that happened as the cap finally popped off was an eye-blinding flash of green light that spread throughout the room to light up every corner. A tall dark figure was outlined in it before _he_ stepped out.

Danny Phantom, ten years older with a brand new costume, grinned evilly. His white hair was in flames and his red eyes gleamed. His black and white cape fluttered at his ankles and clenched hands were covered in black gloves.

Phantom burst into dark laughter for a few moments before letting a slow smirk cross his face. "I'm baaack."


	9. Problems

"Jasmine Fenton! You untie us right this minute!" Maddie ordered.

"Sorry, no can do, Mom." Jazz leaned against the wall. "You were going to spy on Danny and that's something I can't allow."

"But he's alone with a girl!" Jack shouted, struggling against his restraints.

Jack and Maddie were tied up with the glowing rope Jazz had grabbed in the kitchen. They were sitting on their bed, weaponless and telescopeless. Jazz had secured it and hidden it somewhere safe.

"First off, I highly doubt he's alone. Tucker's normally with them, remember?" Jazz started. "Second, do you have any idea what this would mean to Danny's trust? He _trusts_ you to not spy on his life and in turn _you_ have to trust him that he won't do anything bad. Teenagers need trust. Besides, as it's already eight, he'll mostly likely burst through the front door any minute now, yelling, 'I'm home.' "

"I'M HOME!" they could hear Danny yelling.

"See?" Jazz smirked.

"Hi, Mom, hi – uh, what are you doing and who's this person?" Danny stopped dead in his parents' room door. "What have you done with Jazz?"

"Oh, very funny, Danny." Jazz rolled her eyes. "It's me."

"Jazz doesn't resort to violence. Instead, she starts talking in very big words that no one can understand," Danny said flatly.

Jazz shot him an evil glare. "Oh, you are _so_ going to pay for that."

"Don't have any money." Danny turned out his pockets.

"What were you doing at Sam's house, sweetie?" Maddie inquired.

Danny gave her a suspicious look. "What did you think I was doing?"

"Uh, you know. Games and such." Maddie tried to look convincing but failed utterly. It didn't help that Jack was paying way more attention than was necessary.

"Oh, I'll have you know I had plenty of fun on Sam's bed, thanks." Danny marched to his room.

"DANNY!" his parents shouted.

"Oh, he did _not_ just—" Jazz started.

"Hey, I was _joking!_ Geez. Doesn't anyone recognize a joke these days?" Danny poked his head back into view. "I was doing something totally different and unrelated to what you _thought_ I was doing, 'kay?"

"What _were_ you doing?" Maddie asked, curious.

"Uh, watching movies?" Danny made up. Jazz gave him a look that told him she didn't buy a word. "Er, anyway, I've got to talk to you. Meet me in the living room. Jazz, better untie them."

Several minutes, later Jack, Maddie, and Jazz were sitting on the sofa with Danny sitting across from them. They were all paying rapid attention to the ghost boy.

"Okay, um, just wanted to let you know that there are several ghosts here in Amity Park that are _completely_ off limits," Danny started.

"THEY'RE GHOSTS!" Jack shouted, making everyone else jump. "Why should we not hunt them?"

"Because they asked for my _protection._ They didn't ask for me to sell them out to the nearest ghost hunters," Danny explained.

"All right, we understand," Maddie said, laying a hand on her husband's arm. "But why are they asking you for help?"

"There's some trouble in the Ghost Zone," Danny responded. "While it's there, they want to stay here, out of danger. I'll be around to make sure that they don't cause any trouble. Just so you know, there's Skulker, Desiree, Kitty, Johnny…" he rattled off the list of names.

"Wow. And all these ghosts asked for your help?" Jazz asked. "Aren't they normally the ones who fight you?"

"Well, we're under a truce now," Danny said. "Just so you know, _I'm_ responsible for them. _You're_ not going to go anywhere near them, understand?"

"But they're ghosts! I was going to tear them apart molecule by molecule, fry them with my Fenton Foamer…" Jack began his rant.

"Do you get it, Mom?" Danny asked his mother.

Maddie nodded. "We won't go near them. It would help, though, if you gave us a list of where they're at so we don't run into them."

"I'll do that," Danny promised. "Now, as for Dad." He turned to his father.

"…dissect them on my lab table, shrink them with the Fenton Crammer—"

"DAD!" Jack stopped mid-word. "Okay, now that I have your attention, are you going to leave the ghosts alone?" His father looked so crestfallen that Danny couldn't help but add, "The Fenton Finder needs fixing. Maybe you could make it recognize my ecto-signature so it doesn't always key in on me? I'm getting tired of hearing that I'm in a ghost. It's like I'm in a puddle…"

"Great! I'll get started on it right away!" Jack made a grab for his son but Danny, foreseeing the dangers, phased through his grip.

"How about I just _give_ you the invention?" Danny suggested, changing into his ghost form.

"That works too." Jack snatched the Fenton Finder from Danny's hands and sped down to the lab. "WAIT THERE, DANNY! I'VE GOT A SPECTER POWER ELIMINATOR I WANT TO GIVE TO YOU!"

"Should I run first and ask questions later?" Danny asked, not wanting to think about what could be wrong with the invention.

"Do." Jazz nodded. "I'll take care of the clean up. You're gonna tell Valerie, right?"

"Right."

"Oh, hey, Mom?" Jazz switched her attention to her mother. "I think you should go down and make sure Dad doesn't blow up the lab or something while fiddling around with the Fenton Finder."

"Your suggestion has merit." Maddie went into the kitchen. "Be back at ten, okay, Danny? You have a good hour."

"Got it." Before Danny could take off, Jazz stopped him.

"You know that you're not getting away unscathed, right? I _am_ going to ask questions about what's plaguing the Ghost Zone." Jazz wore a smile.

Danny chuckled grimly. "Ah. I knew that'd happen. Anyway, you already know who's attacking the Ghost Zone."

"I do?"

A loud explosion was heard from downstairs. It was followed by Maddie reprimanding her husband for some mistake or another.

"That's my cue to leave." Danny flew up through the ceiling.

"Hmm. What should I do now?" Jazz mused. "Danny had dinner at Sam's. Mom and Dad are busy in the lab. The only one who hasn't got anything to do is me." A loud explosion rocked the house. "Well, at least I don't have anything to clean up." The next explosion knocked a lamp of a table. The bulb shattered on impact. Jazz sighed. "I just had to jinx it, didn't I?"

* * *

Phantom stepped out before the swirling circle, gazing into the depths of the green clouds.

"I wonder where that meddling time-master went to?" he wondered. "Oh well. One less ghost for me to bother with." Phantom grinned wickedly. "I wonder what my dear younger self has been up to these last few days."

The circle before him changed to a different scene. It was one of Danny and his friends. They were talking together. Valerie was with them. Phantom watched as Danny said something to Valerie and how the ghost hunter responded with a bemused look on her face.

"Still hanging on to that girl?" Phantom smiled unpleasantly. "I wonder how Sam and Tucker are reacting to that." He watched as the other two showed no hostility to the girl. "Things have changed during the time I was stuck in that blasted thermos."

Phantom turned back to the empty thermos lying on the floor in the room behind him. His hand glowed green and he blasted it, bursting it apart into different pieces that flew around the room.

He turned back to the scene before him, which had changed to the wrecked future where he had resided. He laughed as he saw himself setting a few cars aflame while their occupants ran for cover.

"Should I go shock my younger self by appearing before him?" Phantom snatched something off the wall and tucked it into his outfit. "Or should I just watch him squirm while I lurk somewhere nearby? Personally, I prefer the latter."

Phantom laughed again as he flew out of the castle, leaving behind a swirling pendulum that switched to him and Danny fighting. Danny was out decked in some glittery armor and Phantom was surrounded in green flames. Both collided as the swirling green clouds obscured it again from prying eyes.

When this happened, a certain purple-robed ghost came out of the shadows he had been lurking within and looked at the pendulum grimly.

* * *

"Hey, Danny." Valerie put an elbow on the counter as she faced her ex-boyfriend. "Come to get a snack or a small dinner?"

"No, not quite." Danny looked around and leaned in close to whisper, "I need to talk. In private. Think you can come out?"

"It's not my break yet but my shift is almost over," Valerie said. "Is it important?"

"No. I simply want to talk in private because I've got a homework problem that I just can't figure out," Danny said sarcastically.

"Ah. I get ya. Just hang on for about half an hour while I finish up my shift," Valerie told him. "Are Sam and Tucker here?"

"Well, duh." Danny rolled his eyes. "They'll be around. You know us."

"Joined at the hip." Valerie wore a grin. "Anyway, just sit somewhere." She gestured vaguely. "You're holding up the line."

"Oh. Sorry." Danny smiled nervously and moved away to sit down in a booth.

Several minutes later, his two friends joined him to wait.

"Sure about this, Danny?" Sam shot Valerie a look. The ghost hunter was serving a Nasty Burger to a customer at the moment. "I mean…you don't have to tell her about you-know-who."

Danny sighed and ran his hands through his hair. "I know. Still, unless I tell her she's _going_ to hunt all the ghosts that are staying here at the moment. Besides, I think she needs to be warned about him."

"What about all the other people in Amity Park?" Tucker asked. "I mean, your evil self is really, uh, evil."

"Gee, thanks for describing him in words that I can't think of myself," Sam said sarcastically.

"They'll be warned…eventually," Danny said. He sighed again and buried his face in his arms. "I'm still hoping to take care of him before everyone else finds out. I'm treading on light ground here when it comes to my status. I mean, one bad word about me and…" Danny drew a finger across his throat.

"It's not that bad, Danny," Tucker said sympathetically. "You still have the fan girls."

"You're crazy, Tuck."

"No," Sam said. Danny stared at her. "They're _both_ crazy."

"Oh good. I thought you'd lost your mind for a second there." Danny gave a half-hearted grin to his girlfriend.

"And I thought I finally had a friend on my side," Tucker grumbled, pulling out a stack of important looking documents from a bag he had by him.

"Hey, guys." Valerie loomed over them and smiled. "So, what'd you want to talk about?"

"You're early." Danny glanced at his watch.

"My boss said I could quit early if I wanted to." Valerie shrugged. "Wanna go outside for this?"

"Please."

The group moved outside and to a secluded area behind some trees. They sat down at the roots and began talking.

"I should start off by saying that there are going to be several ghosts around here," Danny said. "They're staying here for a while as there are some…problems in the Ghost Zone."

"By problems do you mean that shadow the weird metal-suited ghost was talking about today?" Valerie asked.

"Yeah." Danny nodded. He handed her a sheet of paper he had managed to scribble on. "Here are the names and locations of these ghosts. Don't hunt them. I've managed to draw out a promise from them that they won't cause any trouble but if they cross the line I'll take care of them."

Valerie scanned the list. "I notice the weird blue ghost who rants about boxes and that tart aren't on here."

"Well, they didn't ask for it. Besides, the way they always fly around isn't exactly reassuring," Danny said. "I mean, Skulker is more reliable than those two. Oh, and if you see a pitcher full of lemonade flying around, try not to answer whatever question it throws at you. Its army of lemons is going to attack you."

"Army of lemons?" Valerie frowned. "That doesn't sound very threatening."

"No, but the actual Lemonade Ghost itself does," Danny said, smiling. "It sounds pretty scary for a hovering pitcher."

"Anything else?"

Danny looked really uncomfortable at this question but decided to tell her. "I feel really nervous about telling you this but…that shadow Skulker was talking about…is me. Or an evil, futuristic, jerky form of me."

"Tucker told me a little," Valerie said. "Is he you ten years in the future?"

"Yeah." Danny nodded, a grim look on his face. "I never want to see that again."

"I agree," Sam chimed in.

"Me three," Tucker said absently, marking off a few things on the document he had on his knee.

"Was it really so bad?" Valerie looked around at the three friends.

"It was so bad I don't even know where to begin." Danny brushed his hand through the air. "In fact, I'd rather not begin describing it. The place still haunts my dreams. All you really need to know is that he's still out there. Out of the time stream."

"You defeated him?"

"Well, if I encountered him, then yes." Danny leaned back against the tree, his raven-black hair blowing in the wind. It had a tinge of dampness in it. "It was one of the toughest battles I've ever fought. I don't know if it's still possible that I turn into him, even though he's out of the time stream. It could also mean that he can still exist, even if I never turn into him."

"You know, that's really confusing," Valerie said.

"I know." Danny gave her a weary smile. "Still, I don't know if he's out yet or not. Clockwork is the master of time so he _should_ know if he can break out. But his shadow…I don't know what to do about that."

"We'll figure it out." Sam smiled at Danny. "So, Valerie, you'll be on the lookout?"

"Well, yeah," Valerie said. "Just give me a general description of this guy so I know who he is when I see him."

" _If_ you see him," Danny muttered. Then, in a clear voice, "He has flaming white hair, my emblem on the chest, a big cape that you can't miss, and he has red eyes. Oh, and don't forget the forked tongue that eerily reminds you of a snake's."

"That's you in the future? I imagined you to be…" Valerie thought for a moment. "…different."

"Hey, so did I," Danny said. "I think my future _is_ different this time around. Unless, of course, I somehow turn into him again."

"He's out of the time stream," Tucker said, scribbling some stuff down. "He might not have anything to do with you anymore. In fact, he might not even need you." The mayor smiled brightly. "You know what that means? He doesn't have to hold back!"

"That's a good thing?" Danny stared at him as if he were crazy.

"Oh, on second thought, never mind what I said." Tucker buried his face in the papers he had on his lap. "Just keep on talking and pretend I'm not even here."

"I'll be going now." Valerie got up and activated her hunting gear. "See you around."

"Definitely," Danny said. "Try not to get into any trouble with the ghosts. Technus can really get on your nerves and don't make wishes around Desiree. They have a nasty habit of going the wrong way."

"Gotcha." Valerie took off and flew steadily for a few minutes before slackening the speed and enjoying the _whoosh_ the wind made when rushing alongside her.

Valerie spent a few more minutes flying with the clouds before descending back into Amity Park. The sky was already darkening with the onset of night. She had just flown by a particularly red building when a voice stopped her.

"Ever the huntress, eh, Valerie?" It sent chills down her spine. "Even ten years in the future hasn't changed that about you."

"Who're you?" Valerie swirled around on her hoverboard and looked around frantically.

A ghost materialized behind her and whispered, "Boo."

Valerie gave a very girly yelp and shot off a few feet to the right before stopping and turning around to observe the ghost that had scared her. His white flaming hair drew her attention, as did the noticeable DP emblem on his chest.

"You." Valerie's breath caught in her throat.

"Me." Danny's future self raised an eyebrow and grinned. "I suppose by now you know who I am?"

"I do." Valerie cautiously kept her distance. "What do you want?"

"Well, well, this is a change from the Valerie I know." The older ghost smirked. "From what I remember, you used to just shoot first and ask questions never. That never changed."

Valerie flushed, not wanting to think about what she had been like before the asteroid incident.

"Things change," she snarled, firing up her ecto-guns. "I repeat, what do you want?"

"Since when has it become customary for you to interfere in ghostly affairs?" the darker version of Phantom asked.

"Since the time when I found out that Danny was Phantom," Valerie replied.

"Oh, and seeing me hasn't rocked your world of my younger self?" Phantom said, a cruel smile tugging at his lips.

"He explained," was her curt reply. "What do you want?"

"Revenge," the ghost said simply. "I shall hurt him so badly that he'll have no choice but to turn into me. When I'm finished with him, he'll be _begging_ to turn into me."

Valerie gulped and said with a dry throat, "Why do you still need him? He defeated you. He told me himself."

"True, but he didn't destroy me." Phantom smiled evilly again. "As long as I exist, he will turn into me."

' _He doesn't know,_ ' Valerie thought. But then another voice added, ' _Or maybe he hasn't figured it out yet._ '

"It looks like I won't have to worry about anything from you," Phantom said, his hands beginning to glow a fiery green.

"And what do you mean by that?" Valerie said, charging up her own weapons.

"You lack…" Phantom blasted her before she could react and then snatched her up off the hoverboard to hold her up to his face. "…the experience," he finished, with a grin. "Your older self couldn't stop me and what would lead me to believe that you, ten years younger, can defeat me now?"

Valerie squirmed under his grasp. She tried to fire an ecto-gun but Danny's older self shocked her.

"AAARGH!" she screamed. She went limp, her weapons and suit retreating back to wherever they came from.

"I must admit, your look was new," Phantom stated simply. "How long have you known?"

"Since the asteroid," Valerie said through gritted teeth. She was starting to find that she couldn't breathe.

"Asteroid?" Phantom frowned. "Must be something that occurred while I was stuck in that blasted thermos."

"Let…me go." Valerie kicked feebly at the ghost, who simply let her foot phase through his body.

"Let you go?" Phantom had a nasty grin on his face. "Certainly." He let go of her…in midair.

"YAAAAAH!" Valerie screamed as she plummeted to the ground.

Phantom then sped down to her level, keeping an even pace with the injured ghost hunter.

"Ah ah ah." He still had that grin on. "Can't have you die yet, can we?" He grabbed her shirt, stopping her abruptly. Valerie thought she felt her neck snap a little. "I need someone to carry a warning to my dear younger self. You'll do quite nicely." He held her out at arm's length as he floated there, several hundred feet above the ground. "My younger self should know what I mean by this. 'You can't escape the inevitable.' " He laughed darkly before looking at her out of his red eyes. "After all, I _am_ him."

Phantom let go and watched her fall. He fired up another ectoplasmic blast and hit her in the stomach, causing her to cry out in pain. It only served to cause her more agony and to speed up her already speedy descent to the ground.

The last thing Valerie saw before hitting the ground was Danny's older self laughing and disappearing. She felt her bones snap and blacked out.

* * *

"Why do I get this really bad feeling that something horrible is about to happen?" Danny asked, walking home with his friends. It was ten minutes to curfew.

"I dunno. Maybe it's because Desiree is floating around you?" Tucker suggested.

"Eep!" Danny jumped a foot in the air and pushed the wishing ghost away. "I thought something was up but with all the ghosts around I'm just ignoring my ghost sense."

"Don't be like that." Desiree wore a cross look on her face. "Just thought I'd see if you figured anything out yet."

"Well, besides the fact that the shadow is my evil future self out to get me…uh, no," Danny said. "Besides, it's only been a couple hours. I need to get home 'cause otherwise my parents are gonna blow a couple of gaskets."

"And he means that literally," Sam added.

"Hey, maybe you could grant Danny's wish that his evil future self never existed?" Tucker glanced hopefully at Desiree.

"I may be a wishing ghost but even I cannot mess with time," Desiree said.

"Really? I think your granting my wish that I never met Danny proves otherwise," Sam said.

"Yes, but that was a wish not involving the time stream. It was a wish for something that already happened," Desiree explained. "I can't grant a wish for something that obviously hasn't happened yet."

"That makes sense." Danny looked crestfallen. "It would've been an easy way out of my situation."

"Sorry." Desiree shrugged and flew away.

"Wow, is it just me or did a ghost just _apologize_ to you?" Tucker asked, blinking.

"She apologized." Danny looked a little dazed himself.

"Boys." Sam threw up her hands in a hopeless gesture. "Oh well. This is my house. See you later. Night, Danny." She planted a kiss on his cheek and then stomped up the stairs into her house.

"Right. See you later, Danny. Movie marathon at your place tomorrow!" Tucker dashed away, leaving Danny to stand in the middle of the street.

"Isn't Sam's house a better option?" Danny said to no one. "Ah. I'll just go home. It's almost time for my curfew anyway."

He glanced at his watch and transformed into Phantom to take off.

"I still have a _really_ bad feeling," the ghost boy murmured, looking down at the buildings. "Maybe I'm just paranoid. I mean, how much can happen in that short time I left my friends?"

Danny slowed down a little to gaze up at the overcast sky. It was most likely going to be a rainy night. It was already drizzling a little. Danny descended a bit more to the rooftops and started his way home.

He was almost home when he saw a figure lying on a rooftop. By then, it was starting to rain more heavily. Deciding he had to check it out, he flew over to it to nearly fall out of the air in shock.

"V-Valerie?" Danny couldn't believe his eyes.

It was Valerie but a very badly beaten up Valerie. As he approached her, he noticed that she was breathing extremely shallowly and that her arms and legs were bent in awkward positions. She had cuts all over her body and Danny could see a nasty bruise that was spreading over her neck.

"What happened?" Danny cautiously checked her heart rate to see if it was beating properly. The touch made her move slightly and she let out a slight moan. "Valerie? You okay?"

The ghost hunter opened her eyes a crack and glared at the ghost boy.

"Sorry. Standard question." Danny gave a sheepish grin before switching to a more serious mode. "What happened?"

"Don't…want to know," she breathed, trying to move but wincing as she did so.

"Don't move," Danny warned. "I think you broke several bones."

"You _think_?" Valerie asked, her voice weak. "I fell from a height of several hundred feet. Not to mention water's going down my nose."

"Right. It's raining." Danny moved to pick her up before stopping. "I'm not too sure I should pick you up. I mean, you might have some really bad damage internally."

"If I'm not dead yet I don't think I'll be dead anytime soon," Valerie said, smiling grimly. The rain washed clean a couple of her cuts. She stifled another groan. "Still, Danny, please be careful. All my limbs are _killing_ me."

"I'm still not sure." Danny bit his lip, thinking. "Do you have a cell phone? I need to call your dad."

"Don't." Valerie closed her eyes and held her breath for a moment before letting it out slowly in a pained hiss. " 'You…can't escape the inevitable.' "

Danny froze in the action of patting down her pants for a noticeable lump that would explain a phone. "What?"

"It was…a ghost," Valerie said slowly, her breathing slow. " _Him_."

"He's free?" Danny said. "He wasn't a shadow?"

"I think…I would've…noticed the…difference between…" Valerie tried to get out her words. "…a shadow…and a flaming-haired…ghost." She let out her breath again and then a groan. "It…was…him."

"I didn't think it'd be so soon," Danny said quietly. "Hang on, Valerie."

"Cell phone…" Her words were very faint. "…in…front…pocket." She slipped into unconsciousness again.

"Valerie?" Danny's voice held alarm in it. "Valerie? Oh, come on, don't die on me." He searched Valerie's front shirt pocket and found her cell phone. He shielded it from the pouring rain and dialed 911. "Hello? I need an ambulance here A.S.A.P. My name? Danny Phantom. No, I'm not kidding. I mean it. I. Need. An. Ambulance. Here. _Now._ " He closed his eyes in irritation. "There's an extremely injured girl lying on a rooftop in the pouring rain. She plummeted from a fall of several hundred feet and I have no idea how to move her."

Danny waited several minutes while keeping Valerie intangible to be sure that she could breathe without the water running into her nose. After finishing the phone call, he hung up and then took a breath.

"Okay," he muttered, placing a gloved hand under his friend's head. "Lift her up gently. Keep her steady." Danny stopped and sighed, thinking. "Maybe telekinesis would be a better idea."

He steadied his concentration and focused on Valerie. Letting his ghostly energies envelop her, he then guided his hand slowly so that Valerie floated in the air, hovering. Danny took to the air himself, still focusing on the girl in front of him. He took another breath and flew besides her, trying to keep the motion slow and steady.

Several minutes later, Danny alighted on the ground and let Valerie down gently. He moved to turn her intangible and waited for the wailing sirens that would signal the ambulance's arrival.

He didn't have to wait long as soon a familiar red and white car whizzed down the street to his location. Danny stepped aside as the paramedics ran out and lifted Valerie onto the stretcher. He watched as the ambulance's doors closed and the car sped off, sirens still wailing.

The ghost boy stood in the rain, still breathing in and out before reaching a decision. He reached into his white belt and pulled out Valerie's cell phone. He scrolled through the phone numbers in it before finding her dad's and dialing it.

"Hello?" Danny asked. His white hair dripped down into his face. "Mr. Gray? It's Danny here. I've got some bad news." He waited a moment before saying, "No, she's not dead. She's…hurt…really badly."

He winced and held the phone a few inches away from his ear as an audible voice could be heard. " _Oh my God! Is she okay? Where is she?_ "

"She's fine," Danny managed to get a word in. "Well, not fine in that way but I already called an ambulance. Do you want me to pick you up?"

Another pause as Mr. Gray said something.

"Right. I'll see you later. Ring me when you've got some news." Danny hung up and took another breath.

He looked up at the dark sky, where the rain was falling. He closed his eyes and stood there for a moment, letting the rain fall onto his face. His white hair clung to his forehead. Danny stayed…thinking…

' _What do I do?_ '

* * *

"What is going on here?" the skull-faced ghost roared. Walker, warden of the Ghost Zone, was not in a good mood. "Where have all the ghosts disappeared to?"

"The human realm, sir," a goon of his responded. "An orange streak that passed by yelled something about a 'shadow of doom'."

"It's just a shadow!" Walker sneered. "Are you all so jelly-boned that you can't even stand up to a measly shadow?"

"There have been reports of attacks, sir," the goon said, looking uncomfortable. "Descriptions vary between the shadow and a flaming-haired ghost. Both have it in for Phantom."

"The ghost boy again," Walker growled, opening a thick book that lay before him. "He's broken about a hundred rules and still owes me a sentence."

"He did save the Ghost Zone, sir," another goon supplied.

Walker threw the book at him and knocked the goon straight out of the room.

"Temper, temper," a new voice said. A ghost appeared before the warden. "I see you still harbor a grudge against him."

"Phantom!" Walker started. He stared at the emblem on the other ghost's chest.

"Not quite," the flaming-haired ghost said. "Now, I have a little something for you to do."

"You owe me a thousand year sentence, punk!" Walker said, reaching for a weapon.

"Punk" blasted Walker with a ghost ray and pinned him to the wall. The goon was paralyzed with fright and flew out of the room.

"I don't owe you anything," the stronger ghost said. " _You_ on the other hand owe me a couple of years of pain." He electrocuted the warden and let him slide down the wall. "You'll do nicely for a warning. Tell the ghost boy that he can't stop hiding from me."

The ghost punched Walker so hard that he crashed through the wall into the Ghost Zone. Before Walker could retaliate, he was hit by an ectoplasmic ray and was completely fried. The other ghost followed it up with a wail that blew Walker straight back.

"Like it? I call it my ghostly wail," the ghost said.

"I'll get you for this, punk," Walker wheezed out.

"What did I do wrong now?" Phantom sneered, a smile crossing his features. "Is attacking the warden against the rules?"

"You owe me—"

"A thousand year sentence. I know." Phantom floated over to the weak ghost and held him up to his face. "But I won't be going anywhere." He shocked Walker again and placed a glowing hand to the white-suited ghost's stomach. "At least, not until everyone gets blown everywhere." He grinned nastily. "Fortunately for you, I need you alive and kicking for this." He blasted Walker in the stomach, knocking the other ghost unconscious. "You won't be going anywhere either. Not in the Ghost Zone, that is."

Phantom laughed as his hand glowed green. He swiped it at Walker and created a portal, which he thrust the other ghost through. He closed the portal and turned back to the prison, an evil grin on his face.

"See you around…punk." Phantom laughed again as he flew towards the prison.

He took a deep breath and unleashed a ghostly wail that destroyed the whole prison and rocked the surroundings to their very core.

* * *

It was Saturday; the day after Valerie had been beaten up and thrown to the rooftop. Danny and his friends had come over to the hospital first thing in the morning to check on their invalid friend.

"Is she okay?" Sam rushed into the room. "Is Valerie okay?"

Damon Gray, Valerie's father, smiled weakly and said, "She'll be all right."

Tucker let out a breath he hadn't known he'd been holding. "Great. I was really worried there."

"Danny?" Sam stared at her boyfriend. "Are you all right?"

"How can I be all right?" Danny asked. "It's my fault she's like this."

"Don't say that, Danny," Sam said sharply. "If it weren't for you, Valerie would probably be lying dead out there."

"Yeah, but I could've _helped_ her. I _knew_ something felt wrong," Danny said.

"Danny, if it weren't for you my girl would be lying dead out there," Damon said solemnly. "She owes you her life. Do you know what did this to her?"

Danny wanted to say "me" but knew that would raise questions. Especially since the "me" in question was an evil self of his ghost half that existed ten years in the future. Instead, he said,

"No, I don't. It was a ghost though."

"Thank you, Captain Obvious," Sam muttered, rolling her eyes.

"You can see her now," a doctor said, stepping out of the room Valerie was in.

"We should've been able to see her hours ago," Damon said. "I thought you said it wasn't life-threatening."

"She has fractured and broken bones all over her body, Mr. Gray," the doctor said. "From what Mr. Fenton told us, she fell from a height of several hundred feet. We needed to be sure she wasn't severely injured."

"As if broken bones aren't serious?" Tucker asked.

"I mean internal bleeding," the doctor amended.

Damon went over to his daughter's bed and watched her breathe softly. Her arms and legs were in casts and her neck was also in a brace. The doctor had said that she nearly broke her neck sometime during the fall.

' _It's my fault_ ,' Danny thought, watching as Valerie's father laid a hand on his daughter's brow. ' _If I had just gotten there sooner. If my ghost sense would only pick him up._ '

"Daddy?" Valerie said weakly, opening her eyes.

"It's all right, Valerie," Damon said quietly. "You're in the hospital."

"Sorry…to make you worry," Valerie murmured.

"I'm…" Danny gulped and continued, "…sorry about what happened, Valerie."

"Idiot." Valerie gave him a weak smile. "It wasn't your fault."

"If I had only _been_ there…" Danny trailed off.

"Yeah, well, I didn't exactly yell 'help', either, you know," Valerie said.

"Who was it that attacked you?" Damon asked.

Valerie shared a significant glance with Danny before saying, "A ghost. A really strong ghost."

Danny muttered something that sounded like " _him_ " before falling silent again. Sam shot him a worried look and then turned her attention back to the girl lying on the bed.

"He must've given you a name," Damon pressed, glancing at Danny, who seemed unusually quiet.

"Not all ghosts shout out their every intention and their name," Tucker answered for Valerie. "Look at Danny for instance."

"He's…a special case," Damon said.

"Ember doesn't," Sam supplied. "Well, she has the fans to do that for her, though."

"Was it someone with a grudge against Danny?" Damon asked.

A loud noise distracted their attention and they all turned their eyes towards Danny, who was gaping at a ghost who had appeared before him.

"Eh, hi?" he said weakly. "What are you doing here, Skulker?"

"I heard that there had been an attack," Skulker said, turning his eyes to Valerie. "Seems my source wasn't lying."

"You have a source?" Danny looked confused. "I thought you hunted everything on sight."

"I only hunt the rare and prized things," Skulker said. "I don't hunt my sources. Unless, of course, they're extremely—"

"Please don't finish that sentence," Sam interrupted. "I don't want to know what you do to them."

"Isn't that a ghost?" Damon asked, looking at the metal-suited ghost floating before him.

"Well, he's floating, has a green mohawk, and is talking about hunting. Yep, he's a ghost," Tucker said. "Meet Skulker—"

"Ghost Zone's _worst_ hunter," Sam finished, a smirk on her face.

"I'll have you know I catch _everything_ that I hunt," Skulker said, glaring at Sam.

"Everything besides me, that is," Danny said. Skulker turned his glare to Danny. "Okay, enough with the chitchat. What do you want?"

"I heard it was he who did it to her," Skulker said meaningfully. "Am I right?"

Damon shot a confused look at Danny, who had gritted his teeth.

"Can we take this outside?" Danny said finally. He transformed straight into Phantom mode. He grabbed Skulker's arm and phased them through the ceiling, leaving a very bewildered Damon behind with his friends.

"Who was he talking about?" he asked Sam and Tucker.

"Who who?" Sam avoided the question, averting her eyes. ' _It's Danny's secret, not ours. Please don't say anything, Tucker. Please_.'

"He wasn't talking about anyone in particular," Tucker said. "In fact, he wasn't talking about anyone you don't know!" he finished proudly.

Sam face-palmed while Valerie appeared enlightened. ' _Can he be any more obvious?_ '

"Anyone I don't know?" Damon repeated, a frown on his face. "Does that mean…the attacker was one of you?"

"Yep!" Tucker said, smiling happily before Sam conked him in the head. "Ow!"

"Who was it?" Damon looked up at the ceiling where the halfa had disappeared. "Was it Danny?"

"Idiot!" Sam hissed to Tucker. "You really need to sew up your mouth!" To Damon she said, "No, Mr. Gray, it—"

"How can you even _think_ it was Danny?" Valerie broke in. "He was nowhere near me during the fight!" ' _In present tense that is._ '

"Yes, but, your friend just—"

"He meant another ghost that you've met," Sam jumped in. "There are plenty of other ghosts out there besides Danny."

"Sorry for the misunderstanding," Damon said. "Still, I _am_ going to get to the bottom of this. Who attacked you, Valerie, and why?"

The people in the room averted their eyes, retaining a stony silence.

"Well?"

Finally, Sam spoke, "We can't…tell you yet, Mr. Gray. I'm sorry. It's…classified. But whoever it is, Danny _will_ take care of him."

"By classified, do you mean a secret?" Damon said, leaning forward to fix Sam with a steady gaze. "I need to know, Samantha." The Goth girl shot him a glare that could've killed on the spot. "For all we know, this ghost could destroy—"

"Danny knows what he's doing," Sam said evenly. "I hope," she added under her breath.

Damon stared at her for a few more moments before switching his gaze to Valerie, who avoided his eyes. He sighed. It wasn't going to be easy to work the truth out of them.

* * *

"Do you know anything about him?" Danny asked Skulker on the hospital roof. They were floating in midair.

"Well, apart from him attacking your friend…no," Skulker admitted. "I merely came to confirm if what I heard was true."

"Well, it's true." Danny sighed. "I didn't think he'd get out so quickly, though. I mean, one moment he's a shadow lurking in the Ghost Zone and threatening ghosts. Next thing you know he's out and hurting my friends."

"Who is he, whelp?" Skulker inquired.

"I should've thought he already told you," Danny said bitterly.

"Other than hinting at it he didn't," Skulker said.

"Fine, you really want to know?" Danny snapped. "He's me, okay? He's me ten years in the future of a totally twisted up and screwed timeline! He's both Plasmius _and_ me. He's so evil that he could give Pariah Dark a run for his money. Anything else you want to know?"

"Well, quite frankly," Skulker said, seeming taken aback, "no. He's you? He did hint at that, but," he was muttering now, "I didn't think he meant that _literally._ "

"Oh he meant it literally, all right," Danny said. Skulker jerked his head, not having realized that Danny heard him. "Are the other ghosts keeping in line?"

"Er, yes. Johnny is a bit strained when it comes to the girls"—Danny snorted—"and the Box Ghost is still ranting about taking over the world with boxes—"

"No surprise there," Danny murmured.

"—but otherwise they're keeping strictly in line," Skulker finished.

"Good. Make sure it stays that way, got it?" Danny said.

Skulker started to say something but then a portal opened up between the two ghosts. Danny flew backwards and grabbed the Electrifier from his belt. Skulker jumped back, too, to prepare an ecto-gun.

When the swirling green portal faded, a familiar white-clothed ghost slammed into the concrete ground below them. Danny started at the sight of Walker looking completely beaten up.

"Well," Skulker said, "this is certainly a surprise."

"Think we should help him?" Danny asked, gazing at the unmoving ghost.

"Personally, I opt for leaving him here," Skulker said, grinning.

"Never mind what I said." Danny landed on the ground besides Walker. He turned the warden onto his back and shook him slightly. "Hello? Earth to Walker?" He paused. "Okay. That sounded weird."

The ghost warden stirred and stared at Danny. He rasped out four words: "You can't escape him." He passed out again.

The two other ghosts stared at each other, petrified.

In the air, observing the interchange between the three was a third ghost. He grinned before saying, "Everything is working perfectly." His silhouette vanished, leaving only faint green sparkles.


	10. Warnings (Part 1)

“Oh crud, oh crud, oh crud,” Danny whispered. He was kneeling by the unconscious Walker, his head in his hands. “It’s him. It’s definitely him. What do I do? What do I do?”

Skulker listened to the ghost boy’s panicked mumbling while also assessing the damage that had been done to the ghost warden. The once proud white suit was in tatters and the hat had been partially ripped away, revealing his bald head. There were scratches covering his face and one could see more where the suit was ripped; each and every one was oozing ectoplasmic blood.

“What will we do, ghost child?” Skulker asked after absorbing the state the warden was in.

“What will _we_ do?” Danny repeated, looking up. “Don’t you mean, what will _I_ do?”

“Well, yes,” Skulker admitted.

“I’m just going to ignore the fact that you’re totally using me to destroy whatever threat is plaguing the Ghost Zone,” Danny mumbled. Then, “The fact is, I don’t _know_ what I will do. Last time I barely managed to beat him. He’s totally and utterly dangerous…as well as ruthless. He’ll stop at nothing to get what he wants.”

“Which would be what?” Skulker prompted, not wanting to miss out on anything that would help him fight against Danny’s future self.

Danny studied Skulker for a few moments before deciding it wouldn’t hurt to let the hunter know. “He wants me to turn into him.”

Skulker snorted. “That’s all? No big plans to take over the world or utterly annihilate the Ghost Zone?”

“Well, would it help if I told you that your girlfriend Ember was extremely obese on account of my future self?” Danny said lightly.

Skulker spaced out. Then, with a jerk he came back to himself. “You jest.”

Danny shook his head. “I’d tell you more if it mattered.”

“Doesn’t it?” Skulker gestured to the unmoving Walker. “It looks like it matters to me from the way Walker’s looking.”

Danny flinched. “It does…but not in the way you think. He…may not need me to exist anymore.”

“Which means what?”

“I don’t have the advantage that he’ll go easy on me,” Danny explained.

“Does he know?”

“To tell you the truth, I don’t know,” Danny admitted. “I could ask Valerie as he might’ve revealed something of value to her.”

“It is imperative that you take action now, ghost child,” Skulker said.

“Yes, but what can I do?” Danny asked again.

“I don’t know.” Skulker shrugged. “He’s your enemy. Or, as you said, he’s you. You should know your own weaknesses and strengths. You alone hold the power to stop him. If you can’t, both your world and ours are forfeit.”

Skulker fired up his wings and was about to fly away when Danny stopped him by saying, “Why are you helping me?”

Skulker flashed the half-ghost a grin. “Why, to have the pleasure of hunting you later, whelp. It’s also in my interest to save my world, is it not? After all, I never would’ve joined you with that crazy plan of yours to turn your world intangible for that asteroid if our world hadn’t hung in the balance as well.”

This time he really did take off.

“Wait!” Danny called.

Skulker paused, hovering.

“How do you know so well what I should do?”

Skulker grinned again. “I’m a hunter, ghost child.” He turned around and flew away. “It’s my nature to get into the mind of my prey.”

Danny watched him disappear into the city before turning back to the unmoving form of Walker. He sighed, wondering what he should do with the warden.

“On one hand, it’s kinda mean to leave him up here,” Danny muttered, scratching his hair. “On the other, he _is_ the one who hates my guts with a fervor that surpasses even Skulker’s obsession with my pelt.” He brightened as he came to a conclusion. “Hey! I can keep him in the thermos!” He uncapped it and sucked the warden into it. “There. Now I’ll just go back down and take care of any damage control that Skulker might have caused.”

Danny turned intangible and phased through the roof, leaving behind only the ectoplasmic blood that Walker had bled.

* * *

“Jazz, honey.” Madeline Fenton leaned against the doorframe that led into her daughter’s bedroom. “Do you know what’s been going on with Danny lately?”

“What?” Jazz looked up from her pages of theories on the teenage mind. “Oh, Danny? Don’t worry about him. He’s fine.”

“But I _do_ worry,” Maddie said, a frown crossing her face. “He’s just been so…distant. I thought we were over that since he showed us he was Phantom.”

“He’s still got regular teenage problems like any other kid, Mom,” Jazz said, putting her papers down in favor of giving her mother her undivided attention.

“Does he?” Maddie sat down on Jazz’s bed, which creaked. “I’m so confused. Before the whole…asteroid thing I just thought Danny was another rebellious teenager with a knack for breaking the rules. I never would have thought that his habit for missing curfew, coming home completely tuckered out, and his bad grades would’ve been part of…” Maddie searched for the words.

“Something bigger?” Jazz suggested.

Maddie nodded. “Ever since I found out he was half-ghost, I’ve wondered. What else is he keeping from us? Are there any problems that he hasn’t told us about yet? Is everything related to ghosts when it comes to him?” She took a breath before continuing, “I just wonder sometimes about him. He’s my _son_ and I don’t understand as much about him as I thought I did. I don’t understand _anything_ about him.”

Jazz mulled it over before choosing her words carefully. “Danny has his secrets, Mom. You have to trust him when it comes to that. Even if he is half-ghost, he’s still a normal teenager who needs your support. He still fears not being accepted for any secrets that he has.” Jazz absently traced a finger over some words on her papers. “You need to…you need to give him your trust. Let him know that no matter what goes on, you’re there for him one hundred percent.” She smiled wryly. “I don’t think any parent understands as much about their teenagers that they wished they did. Our situation is just slightly different.”

“What secrets _does_ he have?” Maddie asked.

“They’re Danny’s secrets, not mine,” Jazz said. “When he’s ready, he’ll tell you.”

“Will he ever be ready?”

Maddie gazed at a photo on Jazz’s nightstand. It was one of the whole family at a picnic. They had decided to go out and enjoy themselves for the day. Of course, nothing had gone as planned. The chicken sandwiches that they had packed had turned out to be alive and rebellious to the point of refusing to be eaten. Jack had insisted on blasting every one of them with his newly invented ecto-gun. The photo had been taken just as Jack had nearly fried Danny’s hair in the act of trying to nail a high-flying sandwich.

It had been such a happy, innocent, and care-free time. There had been no worries and no nasty ghosts to plague her youngest child. Back then, all their theories had been just that: theories.

Maddie averted her eyes from the photo to stare at Jazz again.

“He’ll be ready, Mom,” Jazz said with a knowing smile on her face. “Just…trust him.”

“I wish it’d be that easy,” Maddie said, getting up to pat Jazz on the head before moving to the open door. “I still think of him as my baby boy.”

“Don’t you all?” Jazz said dryly. “I think that…no matter how much time passes, you’ll always think of us as your babies. You have to make the decision to let him make his own choices.”

“I think he’s already done a fine job of that,” Maddie said.

“So he has,” Jazz agreed.

* * *

“Are you _still_ not going to tell me anything?” Damon asked yet again.

Sam shook her head obstinately while giving Tucker a look that shot him a clear warning not to say anything.

“I already told you, Mr. Gray,” Sam said again, “it’s Danny’s secret. Not ours. Please respect that.”

“And what if this secret is a danger to us all?” Damon pressed.

Sam frowned, realizing that Damon’s words held a truth. “Danny will tell you when the time is right. Please trust him.”

“Hi, guys.” The ghost boy phased through the ceiling just then with an unnaturally bright smile on his face. “How’s it going?”

“I have a few questions for you, Danny,” Damon said sternly.

“I figured.” Danny transformed back into Fenton and alighted on the ground. “So shoot.”

“Who is this ghost that attacked my daughter?”

“That’s something I need to discuss with my friends,” Danny said, shooting a look at Sam and Tucker. “I can’t tell you just yet.” In response to Damon unvoiced objection he added, “But I will soon. Please trust me.”

“Funny. That’s what your friend was telling me just now,” Damon said, nodding towards Sam.

“So you have to talk to us, Danny?” Tucker asked.

“Yeah. Preferably in private though,” Danny said.

“Hey. What am I? Chopped liver?” Valerie wore a pout.

“I can’t involve you in this just yet, Valerie,” Danny said. “You need to heal first. This is too dangerous.”

“ _I’m_ the one with the ghost hunting equipment!” Valerie said, a furious look on her face. “I think I have a right to know just as well as Sam and Tucker!”

“I know.” Danny looked uncomfortable. “It’s just that I’ve been hunting ghosts longer with Sam and Tucker than I have with you. No offense, Valerie, but I just need to talk it over with them first.”

“That’s just fine.” Damon laid a hand on Valerie’s arm, shaking his head in order to silence her.

“Fine.” Valerie turned her face.

“Maybe we could—” Tucker began.

“No, Tucker,” Danny broke him off. “Just the three of us for now.”

Tucker shot the silent girl a sympathetic look before saying, “All right.”

The trio made their way outside the hospital and into the park before Danny sat them down under some remote trees.

“He’s struck again,” Danny started without any prompting. “This time, he went after Walker.”

“You mean the warden?” Sam asked. “Well, I don’t feel too sorry for him all things considered but that’s bad.”

“It is. He left another message. ‘You can’t escape him,’ ” Danny repeated. “Besides that, he also beat Walker up. Bad.”

“Badly,” Tucker corrected absently.

“You’re correcting Danny’s grammar at a time like this?” Sam said disbelievingly.

“Well, grammar’s important!” Tucker defended himself. “Grammar aside, Danny, is there something else?”

“I don’t know what to do,” Danny said. “I have absolutely no idea how to face him. With Pariah Dark it was different. I knew where he was and back then I had the suit. Now, I don’t know where he is and I don’t have _anything_.”

“That’s not true, Danny,” Sam objected. “You have this.” She placed a hand over Danny’s chest. “You have your heart. Your future self doesn’t have that. He gave it up when he destroyed everything. That makes all the difference in the world.”

“So what am I supposed to do? Tear out my heart and use it against him?” Danny asked.

“Uh, first off, that is totally gross, and second off, it’s completely and utterly immoral,” Sam said, a disgusted look crossing her face. “What I meant was, you can use your heart – or your passion – against him. He lacks that drive you have. _You_ strive to protect us. _He_ doesn’t.”

“Peppy talk aside,” Tucker broke in, earning several glares from the lovebirds, “I think the question of what we do about him still stands.”

“I think…” Sam said slowly, “…you’ll have to warn them. And by them, I mean the town. It’s the only way that they’ll know what kind of a threat they’re going up against.”

“What can I say? ‘Hi, everyone, I just wanna warn you that there’s a really evil ghost on the loose. What’s that? Oh, who is he? He’s just my evil future self who’s out to get me to turn into him and destroy every last human and ghost on the planet,’ ” Danny acted out. He slumped. “That is so going to go down well with the world.”

“Not so blandly,” Sam said, rolling her eyes. “If you don’t want to reveal the specifics, just tell them that you’re expecting a huge threat to attack soon and that you want Amity Park to be evacuated.”

“And how am I supposed to do that?”

A grin crossed Sam’s face. “We’ll go to the news.”

* * *

“Hey, Mom.” Danny sat down at the kitchen table. “I need to talk you. Actually, I need to talk to all of you.”

“All right, Danny.” Maddie set down the invention she had been tinkering with and went over to the staircase that led down to the lab. “Let me just call your father.”

Several minutes later, the whole family was sitting in the kitchen and waiting for Danny to speak.

“You guys have probably noticed that I’ve been acting a little more strangely,” Danny started. “Well, the truth is, I’ve been trying to figure out what to do.”

“Do about what? Is it a ghost?” Jack said excitedly.

“Yeah, it is.” Danny rubbed the back of his neck nervously. “See, there’s huge threat plaguing the Ghost Zone. Those ghosts that are living here are seeking refuge from it. I’ve been talking it over with Sam and Talker and we’ve all reached a conclusion.” He took a breath and let it all out at once, “Amity Park needs to be evacuated.”

One could have heard a pin drop in the silence that followed. Apparently, neither Jack nor Maddie could make much of what Danny had just said. Jazz, on the other hand, just gave him an understanding look and turned her attention to her parents, who would need a bit more of a helping hand.

“You want…Amity Park to be evacuated,” Maddie said slowly, rolling the words around in her head and mouth.

“Yup.” Danny nodded. He fidgeted, waiting as his parents thought it through.

“But…why?” Maddie said finally. Jack still looked as lost as ever although he knew a ghost was involved. “It’s just another ghost. Surely we can handle it.”

“It’s not ‘ _we_ ’, it’s ‘ _I_ ’,” Danny corrected gently, shaking his head. “It’s too dangerous for any of you to be involved in. This is a ghost on a threat level comparable to the ghost king.”

“That just makes it worse!” Maddie cried, springing to her feet. “Don’t think I’m going to let you just go and face this ghost on your own! _It’s too dangerous!_ ”

“What part of my life don’t you get, Mom?!” Danny sprang to his feet, too. “I face danger like this every day! And you know what?! I hate having to let you guys fight ghosts! There’s always the threat that one of you might get seriously hurt! And I’m _not_ going to let _any_ of you guys face him!”

“We’re ghost hunters, Danny!” Maddie shot back. “It’s our _job_ to take care of threats like this!”

“But not _this_ kind of a threat!” Danny retorted. “You barely managed to beat Walker and his goons when they infiltrated Amity Park! The only reason they even went back to the Ghost Zone was because I helped! What do you think is going to happen here? This ghost is stronger than any other ghost you’ve ever fought! You don’t even _know_ him!”

“Oh, and you do?” Maddie said.

“Yes…” Danny said. “I do.”

Maddie was silent. Both Jack and Jazz had been watching the exchange silently.

“I know _exactly_ what he’s like,” Danny went on. Maddie sat down, letting her son do the talking. “I know that he’s the type that won’t hold back to get what he wants. He won’t hesitate to kill if it means getting his way. Therefore, I _know_ that we have to evacuate Amity Park’s residents in order to make sure they’re safe. When the ghost king struck, we didn’t have that advantage. This time, we do.”

“If we do evacuate, what’ll you do?” Jazz said, finally speaking.

“I’m going to face him,” Danny said resolutely.

“No, you’re not!” Maddie protested. “What makes you think we’ll leave you behind?!”

“It’s the only way to make sure he stays where he belongs,” Danny said. “Even the ghost shield won’t hold him back. He’ll just destroy it and come after…us.” He had been going to say “me” but that wouldn’t have worked.

“But the ghost shield has worked against every ghost we’ve fought,” Jack said, his brain finally getting the gist of the conversation. “Why shouldn’t it work against him?”

“Believe me,” Danny said, “it won’t.” He flashed back to the terrible power of the ghostly wail; the way it destroyed everything in its path. “He’s…not like any other ghost you’ve ever fought.” ‘ _In more ways than one,_ ’ Danny added silently.

“How are you going to break the news to the town?” Jazz asked.

“Sam’s already taking care of that.” Danny sat back for a moment before saying, “We’re going to go live.”

* * *

“What _happened_ here?!” the now conscious Walker roared.

He was floating before his prison. Or what used to be his prison. It was a complete wreck. There wasn’t even a building anymore. The whole thing had just fallen in on itself. The parts it had been made of were still there but they were floating all over the place, in shambles. Nothing solid – unless you count the stones – remained.

“I want answers! _Now_!” Walker demanded to the empty space before him.

“Sir,” a quavering voice said. Walker whirled around to see a goon of his. He looked completely beaten up.

“What happened?!” Walker demanded again.

“We – we don’t know, sir,” the goon said. “There was a horrible noise and the prison suddenly started shaking. Before we knew it, the whole thing was falling down upon us.”

“That fool,” Walker growled, glaring at the remains of his prison. “He shall pay.”

“Do you know who did it?” the goon asked.

“Phantom!” Walker barked.

“It…didn’t look like the ghost boy,” the goon said cautiously.

“Who else would have that annoying emblem?!” Walker said.

The goon couldn’t find anything to say to that. He simply stared at the remains of the prison.

“Gather everyone you can,” Walker ordered. “We need to make that punk pay.” He didn’t even register the fact that since the ghost that had attacked him wanted to warn the ghost boy, a completely different entity. No, in his mind, the punk had ruined everything.

“Yes, sir.” The goon floated away, bleeding ectoplasm.

Walker stared at the devastation before him, a cruel look on his face. “You’re going to pay, Phantom.”

* * *

“This is Tiffany Snow here live with Amity Park’s famous ghost hero, Danny Phantom, who has a message to deliver,” the anchor newswoman said into a mike. “So, tell us, Danny, what news do you bring us?”

Danny was in ghost form and sitting in a chair, looking extremely uncomfortable. “It’s not good. Some of you may already have noticed this but there are ghosts living amongst us.”

“Well, yes,” Tiffany said, looking amused. “I believe we have known this for a while.”

“No, not _me_ ,” Danny corrected. “ _Other_ ghosts are living amongst us.”

“And you mean to warn us against these ghosts?” Tiffany asked the half-ghost.

“No, not quite,” Danny said, scratching his cheek nervously. “See, these ghosts came here seeking protection.”

“Get around to it, Danny,” Sam said under her breath, watching her nervous boyfriend try to explain the situation. She was standing in the studio behind the rolling camera.

“ ‘Protection from what?’ you might ask,” Danny said, ignoring Tiffany’s questioning look. “That’s what I wondered until one of them approached me. They’re _ghosts_ and one would expect them to be able to handle any threat. The thing is, there’s something threatening the ghosts that they can’t handle.”

“And how does this concern us?” Tiffany looked completely and utterly lost.

“It concerns us,” Danny started again, beginning to fidget, “because this menace is a ghost who’s also after our world.”

“ _Finally_ ,” Sam breathed. “Take it one step at a time, Danny.”

“If that’s the case, why don’t you just take care of it?” Tiffany asked.

“This ghost…” Danny sighed and picked up again. “This ghost is dangerous. One of the most dangerous ghosts I know. I didn’t know what to do about him until I decided I needed help. So I talked it over with my friends and we reached a decision.” He took a breath before saying, “For our own safety, Amity Park needs to be evacuated.”

* * *

“Everyone here?” Walker asked, looking at the ragged army before him. “Oh, toughen up!” he snapped to a goon that was inspecting a nasty scrape on his arm.

“Everyone is present and accounted for, sir,” said a voice by Walker’s shoulder. The warden turned to face his second-in-command, Bullet.

“Good.” Walker grinned evilly. “Now, let’s go to the human world and start wreaking some well-deserved punishment on that punk.”

In correspondence to his order, all the ghosts followed Walker to the Fenton Ghost Portal before turning invisible to sneak through unnoticed.

Walker flew straight into the ghost boy’s room before stopping to notice that he wasn’t anywhere visible. He entered the living room to note that no one was there either before noticing that the television was on and showing a news bulletin.

“ _For our own safety, Amity Park needs to be evacuated,_ ” Danny Phantom was saying on the screen.

“So that’s where you are, punk,” Walker said to the screen. “Now I just have to find you.”

“He’s nowhere to be found, sir,” Bullet said, phasing through a wall into the living room. “What should we do next?”

“Oh, I know _exactly_ where he is,” Walker said, his green eyes glistening with malice. “I suppose you know where the news station is from our last trip here, Bullet?”

“Yes.”

“That’s where we’re headed next,” Walker said, blasting the TV with an ectoplasmic beam. “Get everyone ready to head there to assault the ghost boy. He’s going down.”

Bullet nodded in affirmative and phased through the ceiling to gather all the goons Walker had brought along.

“You are going to wish you’d never been born, punk,” Walker said. He began to laugh.

Unknown to the warden, a certain ghost hunter was floating invisibly outside the living room window. He had been watching the bulletin from inside the living room until Walker and his goons had turned up. Now, he was contemplating what he had heard.

“This…does not bode well,” he decided finally. “I must warn the ghost child.”

Still invisible, Skulker flew away at top speed, leaving behind the Fenton Works. However, unknown to _Skulker_ , Walker and his goons had already left for the ghost child with no good intentions in mind.

* * *

_“Amity Park needs to be evacuated.”_

__Those words hung in the air after Danny had spoken them. The tension was so thick one could have sliced through it with a spoon. No one seemed to know what to say.

Finally, Tiffany broke the silence. “That…is rather drastic, Phantom. Are you sure it’s necessary?”

“Would you have called it drastic when the ghost king struck?” Danny countered. “The only reason the town wasn’t evacuated then was because we had no warning. This is, easily, a threat comparable to the ghost king. We need to evacuate.”

“Are you sure you’re not just overestimating this ghost’s abilities?” Tiffany said, a smile on her lips. “The ghost king was the _ghost king_ and—”

“And what? No other ghost can rival his power? Wrong. He was the only one ruthless _and_ powerful enough to even try and take over the Ghost Zone,” Danny said, getting frustrated. “You forget, with the battle suit my parents made I was able to face him. What if – what if a ghost came along with enough raw power to rival the ghost king’s? Believe me when I say that this ghost can give that king a run for his money.”

“But why an evacuation?” Tiffany said. “Surely you can take care of him.”

Danny sighed and rubbed his temples, trying to work out a good answer.  “This ghost…this ghost is not like the other ghosts that we’ve seen in the last few years. He won’t hesitate to use by-standers to get his way. I can’t risk that happening. He has no conscience,” he continued. “One life or a hundred won’t make a difference to him as long as he gets his way. Please. We _need_ to evacuate the town.”

“Not too harsh, Danny,” Sam muttered. She pressed a button on the Fenton Phones that Danny had given her to wear. “Tucker, what’s the status where you are?”

“ _Working on it still_ ,” her friend’s voice said. “ _It’s not that easy to reconfigure all the different programming and then apply them—_ ”

“Got it, Tuck. Danny’s still busy on his end,” Sam interrupted. “Are you sure it’ll hold?”

“ _Hey, it held before_ ,” Tucker’s voice said, sounding indignant. “ _What makes you think it won’t hold this time? I’m just fixing some stuff up to suit our needs; I’m not destroying the basic programming or anything._ ”

“Goth 1 out,” Sam said, watching Danny gesture his arms wildly while trying to explain the implications of what his future self could do to the world without revealing his relationship with the ghost.

“ _T-hey, what am I again?_ ”

“Techno Geek 1?” Sam suggested idly, seeing Danny’s eyes flare green in anger at a remark Tiffany had just made.

“ _Techno Geek 1 out – hey! That’s an insult, isn’t it?!_ ”

“Depends on your point of view,” Sam said. “Now I really have to go before Danny blows something up. They’re not taking him seriously.”

“I am not kidding!” Danny was saying. He was on his feet. “This ghost is beyond what other ghosts can do!”

“And you know this how?” Tiffany said.

“I’ve fought him before!” Danny said. Before he could say anything else and let drop some rather revealing information, his ghost sense went off.

Not one minute later, Walker and his goons phased into the station, floating around the ghost boy and newswoman.

“Hello, punk,” Walker said.

“Walker.” Danny flew up to his level. “What are you doing here? I brought you back into the Ghost Zone.  I would’ve thought you’d try and bring order there.”

“How can I do that when you destroyed my prison?”

“ _I_ destroyed your prison?” Danny frowned. “I didn’t even go near it!”

Walker slammed into him and held him to the wall, his hand grasping Danny’s throat.

“No funny talk now, punk,” Walker said. “I know that you did it. Who else has that annoying insignia?”

Danny’s eyes widened and the people in the building raised eyebrows upon hearing the news. The camera was still rolling, catching everything on tape and broadcasting it live.

“In fact, I think I’ll just take you back now and have you serve your thousand years in prison,” Walker said.

“It…wasn’t me!” Danny choked out through the grasp Walker had on his throat. He kicked the warden off of him and gasped, rubbing his throat. “It was the ghost!”

“By ‘ghost’ you mean you,” Walker said.

“No!” Danny protested, shooting Sam a pleading look. She shrugged as she waved towards the camera. He realized that he could use the encounter to help convince Amity Park to evacuate.

“Stop trying to save yourself,” Walker said, his hand glowing green as he prepared an ecto-blast. “I’ve always known that you were rotten to the skin. Now I just have the proof to prove it.”

“It wasn’t me! _I’m_ not the enemy here!” Danny objected. ‘ _Technically I am but that’s not the point._ ’ “It was _him_. He’s the one who did it!”

“And who exactly is he?” Tiffany said, moving the mike over to Danny.

Danny cocked an eyebrow. ‘ _Is she serious? Conducting an interview during a ghost attack?_ ’ “I…don’t know his name. He’s the same ghost I’ve been trying to warn you about.”

“You lie!” Walker hissed, firing his attack. Danny put up a shield to block and counterattacked by freezing Walker to the wall he had pinned Danny to earlier. “You’re trying to warn them about yourself!”

“You yourself carried me a warning about him,” Danny said. “Don’t you remember? I’d think it odd if I tried to warn myself of myself.”

Sam smirked. ‘ _Unless, of course, the “myself” in question is an evil future self who wants Danny to turn into him._ ’

“That doesn’t prove anything, punk,” Walker said.

“Will it help if I told you that I’m trying to warn everyone about him?” Danny said. “I’m trying to get the word out but if you just barge in, I can’t do anything.”

Skulker phased through the ceiling shouting, “I have come to warn – oh, I see you’ve already taken care of him.”

“GHOST!” A man threw up his papers in fright.

“Hey, _now_ you’re reacting?” Sam said, staring at him. “There’s been an army standing before you the whole time.”

“Hi, Skulker,” Danny said nonchalantly. He turned to Tiffany and said, “This is Skulker, a hunter of the Ghost Zone. He’s one of the ghosts taking refuge here. If you don’t believe me about the threat level of this ghost, perhaps you’d better talk it over with the ghosts themselves.”

“I am not _a_ hunter of the Ghost Zone, ghost child, I am _the_ hunter,” Skulker corrected proudly. Danny rolled his eyes but refrained from commenting. “I was watching your attempt of a warning – which I must say is pathetic – and I saw Walker attempting to find you. I then—”

Danny made a motion to quit talking and said, “Maybe you could elaborate on this ghost I was trying to warn them about, Skulker.”

“He’s dangerous,” Skulker said simply. “He’s appeared before other ghosts in the Ghost Zone and threatened them if they didn’t attack the ghost child. I came to warn him but it wasn’t until now that he’s decided to take action against this menace.”

“So you’re saying we have to evacuate Amity Park?” Tiffany repeated, a panicked look crossing her features as what Danny had been saying before set in.

“Yes,” Danny said. “I can’t risk you all being hurt by this ghost. Like I said before, he’ll stop at _nothing_ to get what he wants.” Danny locked eyes with the camera and said solemnly, “The threat is real and very dangerous. Please, please listen and evacuate. It’s for your own safety.”

“What will you do, Phantom?” Tiffany asked the same question Jazz had.

“I’m going to do what I have to do to make sure he doesn’t return,” Danny said with finality. “It’s of absolute importance that you listen and don’t ask questions.”

“Does that mean you’re going to fight him?” Tiffany said.

“ _Yes_ ,” Danny said.

* * *

“Goth 1, this is Techno Geek 1, do you copy?” Tucker said into his Fenton Phones. “What’s the status over on your end?”

He was standing by a huge metal contraption with hundreds of wires and the like clutched in his hands and at his feet. He had his PDA tucked behind his ear and was twiddling some dials in the huge machine.

“ _Why don’t you turn on the TV and see for yourself_?” was the response.

“I don’t _have_ a TV,” Tucker grumbled. “But I _do_ have the next best thing. Or, in my opinion, the _best_ thing.”

He turned on his PDA and configured it to tune into TV stations. It immediately started showing the news station where his friend was in. Tucker jumped at the sight of Walker, his goons, and Skulker.

“ _Does that mean you’re going to fight him?_ ” Tiffany was currently asking Danny.

Tucker saw Danny look straight at him and say, “ ** _Yes_** _._ ”

“Is he crazy?” Tucker squeaked into the Fenton Phones. “He can’t face him alone!”

“ _I know_ ,” he heard Sam say grimly. “ _But_ _he will because that’s Danny_.”

Tucker turned his attention back to his PDA screen and caught Tiffany saying with a shaky voice, “ _So there you have it, folks. Danny Phantom has officially called for a full-scale evacuation of the city. Will the mayor authorize it?_ ”

“ _Will_ I authorize it? Of _course_ I’m going to authorize it! Sam,” Tucker said, “put me on.”

“ _How am I supposed to do that_?”

“Give them the Fenton Phones,” Tucker said. “They can get it out _now_ that I’m authorizing this evacuation. Even if they don’t totally believe it, I know it’s too dangerous to stay.”

“ _All right, hold your horses._ ” Tucker could hear Sam yelling something and covered his ears for safety. When he uncovered them, he heard her say, “ _They doubt I’m in touch with you. Blow their socks off._ ”

“Will do,” Tucker said.

“ _Hold on, folks,_ ” the Tiffany on the screen said. “ _It seems that Samantha Manson, Danny Phantom’s friend, is in touch with the mayor. We’re going to put him through now._ ”

Tucker moved the speaker on the Fenton Phone closer to his mouth and spoke, “Hello? This is Tucker Foley here.” He saw the Fenton Phone that Sam had handed to Danny in his friend’s hand and knew that he was broadcasting his voice live. “You were asking if the mayor would authorize the evacuation. The answer is, ‘Yes.’ I order a full-scale evacuation of Amity Park due to the imminent ghost threat of a highly dangerous ghost.”

“ _Do you have proof?_ ” he saw Tiffany ask.

He sighed, knowing that the sigh would be broadcasted as well. “In case you people have forgotten, I’m friends with Danny, the ghost boy that’s standing there.” Danny shot a barely noticeable glare at the camera. “You might not believe the threat despite the word of the ghosts floating in that room with you. I, however, have faced this threat before and know that it is very real and very dangerous.”

“ _Tucker Foley, mayor of Amity Park, has just given the green light for the evacuation,_ ” Tiffany announced. “ _How long do we have until the ghost attacks, Phantom?_ ”

‘ _Oh crud. We don’t know that._ ’ Tucker saw Danny mentally scramble to gather his thoughts. He saw Sam step up next to her boyfriend. ‘ _Thank you, Sam!_ ’

“ _Ghosts don’t tell us when they’re going to attack,_ ” Sam said evenly. “ _They just attack. The same goes for this ghost. He’s already given Danny several warnings from different ghosts and we can’t ignore it anymore. For our safety, we need to evacuate **now**._ ”

Tiffany smiled stiffly and said, “ _You heard them, Amity Park. Tucker Foley has issued an evacuation for the whole town and Danny Phantom himself has backed up the decision. What will Danny Phantom do next?_ ”

Tucker turned off his PDA and murmured, “Yeah, really, Danny. What are you going to do next?”

He turned back to fiddling with the contraption before him.


	11. Warnings (Part 2)

"She's right, ghost child. What _will_ you do?" Skulker asked Danny once they were out of the building and on the roof compliments of Danny's phasing.

Danny looked determined as he said, "I'm going to face him."

"I didn't say this before because they would've wondered but—" Sam took a breath and said sweetly, "What do you hope to accomplish by facing him alone?" Danny looked worried at Sam's sugary tone. Suddenly, Sam grabbed Danny's shoulders and started to shake him. "You can't just go face him alone! _Trust_ us, Danny!"

"It's too dangerous," Danny said, his electrical green eyes gazing into Sam's purple ones. "You…you know what happened last time." A boiler and his friends and family attached to it flashed before his eyes.

"I _don't_ , Danny," Sam said. "You never told us. Why? What makes you so afraid to tell us what went on between you two? Are you afraid we won't be your friends anymore? We'll _always_ be there for you, Danny. Please don't forget that." She leaned in close to Danny and whispered, "Please."

"I don't mean to interrupt," Skulker said blandly, "but we've still got a problem. If you, ghost child, will remain here to face the enemy, where will we, the ghosts, go?"

"Depends on where you want to go," Danny responded, placing an arm around Sam to hold her close. "You can stay here and help, or you can go hitch a ride on the Specter Speeder. As long as you come back to go to the Ghost Zone it'll be all right."

"In that case, I vote for the Specter Speeder," Skulker said.

"Figured," Danny muttered.

"I shall see you later, ghost child," Skulker said, getting ready to take off. "Try not to die on me. I want to personally ensure that I have your pelt in my house."

"You have a house?" Danny was unable to resist asking.

Skulker sent him a withering look before taking off.

"So?" Sam pulled away slightly to gaze at Danny. "Are you going to tell us what happened?"

"If you're ready."

" _We've_ always been ready, Danny," Sam said. "It's _you_ that had to be ready to tell us."

Danny sighed and smiled wearily. "Then I guess I better get started before you all leave."

When Sam had gotten Tucker from whatever he had been doing, Danny had sat them down in a tree branch and told them what had happened. He started from when they had taken off the medallions to escape the falling building and kept relating the tale until he came to Clockwork's part.

"He turned back time so that I could back to the C.A.T. and fix what I did wrong," Danny finished. "If it wasn't for him, you guys wouldn't even be here and I'd probably be – in fact, I don't even _know_ where I'd be."

"That's…awful, Danny," Sam said, mulling over everything that he had just told them. "And you didn't tell us why?"

"I thought it'd be too traumatizing for you to listen to," Danny said.

"It was too traumatizing for _you_ ," Sam corrected.

"I just…didn't want you all to know how close I came to nearly losing you," Danny said softly. "It hurt so much when I thought you all were gone. When Clockwork suddenly appeared, it felt like my heart had been lifted."

"And you kept all that bottled up?" Tucker looked skeptical. "Jazz would have blown a fit."

"I know." Danny chuckled.

" _That's_ something I have to see," Sam said, getting a dreamy look in her eyes. "Seeing Jazz completely lose it over something her little brother did would really take the cake."

"And I'd be the one to get chewed out for it," Danny said.

"That'll be because you deserve it," Sam said.

"You can't mean that!"

"I do," Sam said firmly. "Jazz would totally throw a fit from here to Jupiter if she knew that you were keeping something this big bottled up inside you. 'How _could_ you, Danny?' " she imitated Jazz. " 'Do you have _any_ idea of the implications that this can cause to the teenage mind? You should have gone crazy!' "

"I have absolutely no idea what you just said and I probably don't want to know," Tucker said.

"Translation: 'Do you have any idea what kind of an impact this kind of news could have on the teenage mind?' " Danny explained. Tucker stared at Danny. "What? Being around Jazz means some of her big words rub off on me." The ghost boy shrugged, grinning.

"So what'll we do?" Tucker asked.

"You're going with your families out of Amity Park," Danny said without hesitation.

" _What?_ " Tucker cried. "No way! I'm not going!"

"Yes you are, Tuck," Danny said. "It's too—"

"So what if it is?" Tucker interrupted. "I'm staying here!"

"So am I," Sam insisted. "You can't make us, Danny."

"But you don't understand. He'll _kill—_ "

"We _know_!" Tucker said, his voice on the yelling point. "And you know what? We don't care! We're. Your. Friends. Friends stick together. Isn't that what you said one time?"

"I guess…" Danny seemed to deflate a little. "It's just…I don't want to see you hurt."

"Even if you manage to dump us on a car trip out of here, we'll sneak out and get back in," Sam said. "We've learned quite a few tricks while hunting with you."

"I'm outvoted, aren't I?"

"Oh yes you are," Sam said, leaning in close to Danny and grinning. "You really don't have a say in the matter."

"But what about your parents?" It was obvious that Danny wasn't going to let the matter go.

"What about them?" Sam drew away and looked down at her combat boots. "They're going. I won't risk having them here."

"Now you know how I feel," Danny said.

"As for mine, they're leaving, too," Tucker said. "What about yours, Danny?"

"I'd prefer it if they left," Danny said. "But…knowing them…they'll probably insist on staying here."

"Is that so bad? You'll have two more experienced ghost hunters with you along with your sister," Sam said.

Danny still looked unconvinced. However, he was unable to further comment on the matter by the interruption of a familiar voice.

"Hey, guys!" They looked down to see Valerie grinning at them. "Mind if I come up?"

"You're still supposed to be in the hospital!" Tucker said, letting Danny drop him down.

"My dad listened to Danny on the TV," Valerie said. "He checked me out and is right now packing to leave. Are you really going to fight him, Danny?"

"Yeah." Danny nodded, looking grim.

"He's awful." Valerie shuddered in her remote-controlled wheelchair. "Do you know what he said to me?"

The friends shook their heads.

"He says that while he's still here, Danny will still turn into him," Valerie said. "It means he doesn't know."

"So that means he'll still go easy on you!" Tucker said, grinning at his friend.

"But it's hanging on a thread," Danny said. "He could find out at any moment that he doesn't need me to exist anymore. Maybe keeping him out of the time stream wasn't such a good idea."

"It was the safest place for him, wasn't it?" Sam asked.

"Under the circumstances, yes," Danny said. "I thought Clockwork would be able to contain him but I thought wrong."

"Didn't that ghost say he was the master of time?" Tucker said.

"Yeah. Where are you going with this?" Danny inquired.

"Maybe there's a reason he let your future self go free," Tucker said thoughtfully. "It might have something to do with a better future."

"But that's such a risk!" Danny started to wave his arms around. "There's no guarantee I might even win!"

"Well, everything has a price," Tucker said. "There are a couple of ways any time stream can go depending on the outcome. If you lose, there's a probability that this time stream changes to become like the one where you originally met your future self. But if you win, there's a chance your future will really turn out for the better. Then, there's the probability that you do nothing at all and you just keep your future self locked up here in a ghost shield which he'll eventually destroy."

"Did you figure all that out using your PDA or your head?" Sam asked.

"Both," Tucker answered proudly.

"That makes sense in a way," Valerie admitted. "Are you guys going to evacuate, too?" she asked Sam and Tucker.

"No." Both of them shook their heads.

"In that case, maybe I could stay, too?" Valerie asked hopefully.

" _No._ " Danny's tone held such conviction in it that Valerie didn't dare question it.

"Sam and Tucker are staying here," Valerie protested, taking a different approach.

"They're not injured," Danny pointed out. "I'm not going to risk another life. You're still too hurt. What exactly are you going to do with your all your limbs completely bandaged up? You can barely even move your wheelchair."

"I don't see you trying to boot _them_ out," Valerie said resentfully.

"If he tried that we'd just sneak back in," Sam said. "We've got practice in that."

"I see that no matter what I say you're not going to let me come with you." Valerie sighed and continued, "Could you at least see me off?"

"Well, why not?" Tucker said. "Is your dad ready yet?"

"Valerie?" They could hear Damon Gray's voice. "We're ready to leave!"

A few minutes later, the small group of friends was out of the trees and standing by Valerie's father's car.

"Keep safe, will you?" Valerie asked Danny. "And you, too, Tucker," she added to the mayor.

"We'll try our best," Tucker responded for Danny, who was now in human form.

"Don't try to get back in here, Valerie," Danny said. "It won't be good if you do."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Valerie asked.

"You'll see as soon as everyone leaves," Danny said.

"Good luck, Danny," Damon said, helping Valerie get into the car. "We'll see you around."

' _Hopefully_ ,' Danny added the unspoken word. He smiled and waved along with his two friends as Valerie left.

Then the three continued on to their own homes.

"Is everyone leaving?" Danny looked around at the mess of cars that was littering the streets. People were running to them and dumping suitcases inside or outside of the car and then sprinting back into their houses.

"That's what you want, right?" Sam said.

"Just making sure," Danny said. They stopped at Sam's mansion. "You'll tell your parents, right?"

"Do you still have that Sam robot?" Sam asked. "I might need it."

"I do. I'll go get it, shall I?" Danny grinned.

"I might need it, too," Tucker said.

"In that case, I'll have to reprogram that one," Danny said. "Hopefully my dad hasn't done anything with it."

"I'll meet you at your house. Deal?" Sam asked Danny.

"Deal," Danny responded.

"I'll walk home myself," Tucker said. "You two lovebirds do what you need to do. See ya!" And before either Sam or Danny could reply, he dashed away to his house that was somewhere in Amity Park.

"So, you're really sure you want to stay here?" Danny said.

"I thought we already settled that," Sam answered. "I already told you, Danny, and Tucker did, too, that we're friends. Friends stick together no matter what the circumstances. Besides, it's not like you'll be able to patrol this town on your own."

"I would've had my duplicates."

"For how long? Ten minutes at a time?" Sam shot him a look. "That won't even cover half the day with the rest periods that you need."

"I don't need _that_ much rest," Danny protested. Sam grinned and he realized that she had been playing with him. "Oh, very funny, Sam."

"You should get going to your house," Sam said, leaning in close to her boyfriend.

"Yeah, I should." Danny leaned in for a kiss.

When they broke away, Sam said, "What was it you said before you went recruiting?"

" 'Remind me to save the world more often?' " Danny suggested.

"That's the one." Sam smiled. "This is something similar to that."

"Yeah. Except this time you'll be here with me."

"Now you're talking." Sam walked up the steps and opened her door. "See you."

"Right." Danny smiled, too, and transformed. He waved once before flying off.

A few minutes later of hard flying, Danny touched down before his house to see his family loading up the Fenton Family Ghost Assault Vehicle – er, I mean RV. He transformed back before going up to the vehicle.

"Hey, honey!" Maddie beamed at him as he came up to her. "How'd it go?"

"You didn't watch?"

"No. I went with your father to get some supplies for a few more inventions," Maddie explained.

"I guess it's just as well you weren't home. Walker came to try and arrest me for destroying his prison, which I haven't even been _near_ to."

Danny's ghost sense went off and Walker materialized behind Maddie. "Hello, punk."

"I hope you haven't come here to arrest me," Danny said, not even bothering to transform into Phantom. "I already told you I didn't touch your prison."

"I didn't come here about that," Walker said, glaring at Danny. "I heard from some of the other ghosts that you're evacuating this town."

"Well, that's why I was there in the first place," Danny responded. "Do you want to go?"

"He does, ghost child, but he doesn't want to say it." A familiar hunter appeared besides Walker.

"I'm surprised Dad hasn't attacked you all," Danny said.

"Oh, I tied him up!" Jazz poked her head out of the RV. In answer to Danny's skeptical look she added, "Okay. I didn't tie him up. I just barred him from all ghost hunting weapons."

"There are some more ghosts waiting for you by the portal, ghost child," Skulker said.

"You don't say," Danny said dryly. "I suppose they're seeking refuge as well?"

Without waiting for an answer, he went inside the house into the lab. What he saw there made him stop in his tracks. Virtually almost every ghost he had ever faced was there. Dora was in her dragon form, Pointdexter was sitting on her. The ectopusses were floating in the room as well along with Wulf and so were all the other ghosts who had come in the beginning.

"Hi, Wulf," he said to the werewolf-like ghost in the green outfit. "Did Walker stop chasing you?"

"Hello, friend," the ghost said in a heavy accent. He then said something in his native language, Esperanto.

"Oh, he's just declared a temporary truce for now?" Danny asked, the apparent rubbish making sense to him.

"Hello, Phantom," the black-and-white Pointdexter said from atop Dora's back. "I suppose you are aware of our plight with the bully?"

"Yeah, I am." Danny rubbed the back of his neck nervously as he observed the huge crowd in the lab. It was literally bursting to the limits. "So you guys all want to leave?"

"Obviously," Technus said from one corner of the room. "Skulker told me that we could hitch a ride on your cool, funky, and hip vehicle."

"You really need to update your slang," Danny said. "And, it's called the Specter Speeder. You can all take a ride in it if there's space."

"Hey, if you can cram all of us into that dumb thermos of yours that Specter Speeder can definitely hold us," Ember said.

"Point taken," Danny said. "Who's going to drive the vehicle?"

"I volunteer to drive your hip—" Technus was cut off from saying anything more from a gag that Skulker shot at him.

" _Thank_ you," Danny said. "Where does he get that language anyway?"

* * *

"Ready to leave, ghost child," Skulker said, sitting at the wheel of the Specter Speeder. "I wish you luck with your quest."

"And I you," Danny said. "Try not to wreck the thing while you're leaving."

"Affirmative." Skulker turned the vehicle intangible as he flew out of the now empty lab.

"I see you took care of all the ghosts," Maddie said, peering into the lab. "I'll tell Jazz that Jack can now be allowed to lay his hands on the weapons again."

"Hey, Mom," Danny said, getting a gleam in his eye, "you said you had left to get some stuff for an invention?"

"Right."

"Any chance that you could make something for me?"

"Sure." Maddie looked mystified. "Anything else, hon?"

"Yeah. Meet me outside." Danny walked by her and up the stairs to go into his room. "I'm gonna call Sam and Tucker."

* * *

"I already told you!" Sam shouted at her parents. "I'm staying here to help Danny!"

"It's too dangerous, Samantha!" her mother retorted. "I forbid you to stay here and help that boyfriend of yours!"

"Danny's also concerned about my safety but you know what? _I'M INSISTING ON STAYING HERE!_ " Sam stomped up the stairs into her room, slamming the door as she did so.

She buried her face in her pillow and stayed that way for a few minutes before her phone rang. She picked it up before her parents could do so and said,

"Hello?"

" _Sam?_ " It was Danny.

"Hey, Danny," Sam said, turning over onto her back.

" _How's it going with your parents?_ " her boyfriend asked.

"They're not letting me stay," Sam said.

" _We always have that robot to back you up._ "

Sam stifled a giggle that would not have suited a Goth and said, "Why'd you call?"

" _I'm asking you to come over. Are you parents gone yet?_ "

"They've packed but they're not leaving without me."

" _I've got an idea,_ " Danny said.

Sam listened to his plan and let an evil grin cross her face. "I'll do just that. Wait for me."

She hung up and went downstairs to meet her parents.

"Well, Sammikins?" her mother said.

Sam refrained from strangling her mother and plastered a smile on her face. "Okay. I'll come but first I'm going over to Danny's."

"You won't do anything funny?" her dad asked.

"How could I, Dad?" Sam put on her best puppy-dog eyes. "I'll just go now, okay?" Before her parents could protest, she ran outside and all the way over to Danny's.

"It worked?" Danny was sitting outside on the RV's hood along with his parents and Tucker.

"Yeah, but it'll have to be quick," Sam said.

"All right. Now that most of Amity Park has, hopefully, already been evacuated, I'll need you guys to keep this on at all times." Danny held up several pairs of Fenton Phones. "We'll be using to these to keep in touch with each other while we're patrolling."

"We'll be patrolling?" Jazz asked, taking a pair and already putting them on.

"Sure, Jazz. Let the big bad ghost sneak past us and destroy us all while we sleep in our beds," Danny said.

"I get to shoot things?" Jack said.

"No," Danny said quickly. "If you see _anything_ let me know at _once_. It could be a matter between life and death."

"Aw but I was looking forward to ripping the ghost apart molecule by molecule," Jack complained, helping himself to a pair of Fenton Phones.

"Not a good idea with this ghost," Danny said, putting his own pair on. "He'll tear _you_ apart 'molecule by molecule' before you even get a hand on him."

"So, Danny, what exactly did you want us to make with the stuff we got?" Maddie asked.

"I need you to make a thermos," Danny responded. "Except, this time the thermos needs to be able to last for as long as I need it to. In this case, _forever._ "

"Makes sense," Maddie said, nodding. "I'll get to work on that. Jack?" Her husband immediately stopped twiddling with the Fenton Phones and looked at her. "Let's go to the lab."

"Before you do that, we'll need to work out a schedule," Danny said.

"Wait, first thing, Danny?" Sam asked hopefully.

"Oh yeah. My parents freaked, too, man," Tucker said. "I forgot to mention that on the phone."

Danny waved it off. "No problem. I'll take care of it."

Two robots walked out of the house. Both looked exactly like Sam and Tucker.

Sam's eyes widened. "Wow. Freaky."

"You reprogrammed it, didn't you?" Tucker asked, jumping over to inspect his likeness.

"Yep." Danny grinned proudly. "Your parents won't notice the difference."

"Is this really a good idea?" Maddie said. "Your parents aren't even aware that you'll be helping Danny."

"All's fair in love and war, Mrs. Fenton," Sam said, a wicked smile tugging at her lips.

* * *

"When's Sammikins going to come home?" Pamela tapped her foot impatiently on the pavement. "We have to go now!"

"She did say she was just going to say good-bye," Jeremy said, looking at his watch.

"She'll be fine," Sam's grandmother, Ida Manson, said.

"Oh look!" Jeremy said happily. "Here she is now!"

Indeed, Samantha Manson was walking up to the car, making odd clanking noises whenever she took a step.

"You're here!" Pamela said in a chipper voice. "That means we can leave!"

She jumped into the car, followed by Jeremy.

"Yes, Mother," a metallic voice droned out from Sam.

Ida frowned slightly but smiled as she drove her wheelchair by Sam. "Good girl, Sam," she whispered as she got into the car.

Without another word, the Sam robot clanked into the car and closed the door. The car then zoomed off with the hundreds of other cars that were now making their way out of Amity Park.

* * *

"This is Goth 1," Sam said into her Fenton Phones. She was sitting on a building and looking through a pair of binoculars. "My parents have left with the Sam you programmed, Clueless 1."

" _My parents left, too,_ " Tucker said over the Phones. " _I don't think they noticed anything_."

" _What's the status?_ " Danny's voice came over the intermission. " _Anything strange?_ "

"Nothing stranger than the last time you called, Clueless 1," Sam said, rolling her eyes.

" _This is Ghost Hunter 1_ ," Maddie said. " _Should we be looking out for anything strange_?"

" _If you see a tart, lemonade pitcher, or a pumpkin flying around, ignore them_ ," Danny said. Sam stifled a snicker. " _Other than that, keep your eyes peeled. Has everyone left the town, Techno Geek 1?_ "

" _My sources indicate that everyone except for us has left_ ," Sam could hear Tucker responding. Faintly, she could also hear his PDA beeping.

" _Good. That means your job is up, Techno Geek 1._ "

" _This is Ghost Hunter 2. May I have some fudge?_ "

"No, Ghost Hunter 2," Sam said for the others. "You may not."

" _What's up with the technicalities, anyway_?" Tucker asked. " _It's making everything sound awkward._ "

" _It'll make sure you know if someone is impersonating you,_ " Danny explained. Sam could hear a whoosh on his end that signified he was flying over the town.

" _Can't they just force it out of you to find out who's who?_ " Tucker inquired.

" _Ghost Hunter 3 here,_ " Sam heard Jazz say. " _In answer to your question, Techno Geek 1, they'll have trouble remembering which ghost hunter is which. Having three different ghost hunters with the same name is wise._ "

" _Techno Geek 1?_ " Danny asked again.

" _Got it._ " Sam could hear Tucker doing something over on his end. " _It should be up and operational in five…four…three…two…_ "

A second later, a bluish-green dome flickered over Amity Park. It covered the sky and the rest of the town.

" _What's the fancy light show for, Clueless 1?_ " Jazz asked over the Fenton Phones.

" _It's a human-ghost shield,_ " Danny explained. " _We can't get out but no one can get in either. It should keep him in, too, until we can take care of him._ "

"I guess it's begun then," Sam said, looking into the binoculars to see a black and white blur flying in the distance.

" _That it has,_ " Danny said grimly.

* * *

"No one here?" Phantom raised an eyebrow at the empty island before him. "Pity. I was hoping to have a little more fun."

The evil ghost took off in a certain direction. He passed by purple doors and various other islands and ledges until stopping in the middle of nowhere.

"I suppose it's time to pay my dear younger self a visit," Phantom said, a sinister grin creeping onto his face. "I wonder what he has been up to. Seeing him squirm has been enjoyable but it's time to end this."

His hand glowed green and he opened a portal in midair to go through it. Phantom reemerged in Amity Park. He looked up to see a bluish-green dome flicker above him.

"I see he's been busy." Phantom scoured the town to see no sign of life. "I wonder where my dear friends have disappeared to?"

Phantom flashed to invisibility and began to fly among the buildings. Ten minutes later he was back to where he had originally started from and was grinning insanely.

"Perfect." His red eyes were tinged with malice. "I shall still be having some fun." He duplicated himself into three others. "Now it's time to get it all started."

The four Phantoms split up and flew into different directions. Meanwhile, the bluish-green dome continued to crackle with energy, protecting Amity Park from both the inside and the outside.


	12. The Beginning

Danny Phantom flew through the air, searching each alley and house for a dark shadow that would signal the arrival of his future self. He jumped at every noise and more often than not he had an ectoplasmic ray ready to fire whenever the shield above him gave a crackle.

Finally, fed up with his nerves, Danny turned tail and flew back to Fenton Works.

He flew into the house and down into the lab to see his parents hard at work making the thermos he had directed them to do.

"How's it going?" Danny said, floating above them.

"GHOST!" Jack whirled around, ecto-gun in hand and blazing.

Danny jumped and flew out of the way of the ecto-gun. He smiled sheepishly. "Sorry."

"Oh, Danny, it's you." Jack lowered the ecto-gun. "Don't do that, son."

"My fault," Danny agreed, rubbing the back of his neck. "Just wanted to know how the inventing is going."

"We're almost finished," Maddie said, beaming. She gestured to a nearly complete thermos. "We need a few last things done to it though."

"Like what?" Danny settled himself down on the wall. He was sitting on it sideways, his feet resting underneath him while he held his head at an angle to look at his parents.

"Ooh, look, Danny!" Jack bounced down the lab steps and promptly tripped, sending something flying in Danny's direction.

Without thinking, Danny waved his hand at it and slowed the device's descent to a speedy death. It glowed green and flew into the ghost boy's hands as he stared at it, dumbfounded.

"That's new," he said finally. "Guess if I don't think about it telekinesis comes naturally to me. So you fixed it?" He waved around a Fenton Finder.

"Yup!" Jack got up and bounced back. "It shouldn't track you anymore!" Jack suddenly groped around his jumpsuit and came up with a small taser that looked oddly like a certain other invention Danny was way too familiar with. "This is a Specter Power Eliminator, Danny!"

"Ah." Danny eyed it suspiciously. "What does it do?"

"It eliminates ghost powers!" Maddie answered for her husband.

"That sounds way too much like a Plasmius Maximus to me," Danny muttered, not budging from his spot on the wall. "Does it have a time limit or something?"

"That's a kink we haven't worked out yet," Maddie said, looking crestfallen. "The amount of time its effects last vary but it should last long enough for you to take care of any ghosts."

"Any reason it looks like a taser?" Danny asked, still not moving.

"It electrocutes the ghosts!"

"That's…nice." Danny smiled nervously. "Is it – it's not going to electrocute me, is it?"

"You can turn it on to electrocute," Maddie reassured him, a gentle smile on her face. "As long as you're not touching the prongs it shouldn't harm you." She showed Danny a switch to flip. "You flip this switch to activate it."

Danny, now that the device was in his mother's hands, deemed it safe enough to land on the ground. Jack was busy fiddling with the thermos on the laboratory table.

"How long does it last?" Danny asked again. "I'd like a general time frame."

"It could last for anywhere from a few seconds to a few hours," Maddie said, giving the Specter Power Eliminator to Danny, handle first. "It's one thing we have yet to fix."

"I see." Danny gingerly took it and hooked it to his belt, making sure the switch was flipped to "off". "What would happen if it touched me and it was on?"

"To be honest, we haven't tried it out on any ghosts yet," Maddie admitted. "The general theory is that the powers are temporarily neutralized. On…half-ghosts like you, you might not be able to go ghost for a while." She seemed to have trouble saying "half-ghost". "On full-ghosts, though, it'll probably completely disable the powers so they can't do anything."

"This'll be useful," Danny said, making a mental note to try it out on his older self. "What about the thermos?"

"It's finished now!" Jack announced proudly. He tossed Danny a black and white thermos with the letters "Fenton" emblazoned on the side. It was the only green splotch of color on the whole invention. "You only have to feed it your ghost energies to seal it off!"

"This is the new and improved Fenton Thermos?" Danny asked, inspecting it. It looked like…it looked like a regular Fenton Thermos except with different colors.

"I called the Fenton Thermos 2.0!" Jack declared, a tear shining in his eye.

"How will it last forever?" Danny inquired, opening it up to peer inside. He made sure to keep his hands clear from the button that would suck him inside.

"You have to feed it your ghostly energies," Maddie explained. "They will serve as a seal to keep it shut. It should keep whatever ghost you catch with it inside for as long as you need. In this case, we modified it so that it won't open from either the outside or the inside as soon as you give it your energy."

"This'll work just fine!" Danny said, grinning. He clipped it onto his belt and let it dangle next to his normal thermos. "I have to go now. Keep safe, okay?"

"You too, honey," Maddie said fondly, rubbing her son's snowy white hair.

"Stay alive, Danny!" Jack shouted proudly, patting his son on the back so hard that Danny had to brace himself to keep on his feet. "Don't let a mean ghost get the better of you!"

"I'll…try." Danny turned intangible so he could escape his father's hand and flew upwards. "Keep an eye out for _anything_ strange. If you see something, don't fight. Let me know first."

With another wave, Danny flew out of the lab to continue his patrol.

"Come on, Jack. We're finished here," Maddie said, guiding him upstairs. "We need to watch out for any ghosts that will appear."

The two hopped inside their RV and revved up the ghost weapons, never noticing the black and white shadow that loomed closer and closer.

* * *

"7:05," Sam intoned, looking at her watch. "We've been out here for a good while already."

She sat down on the roof she was on, letting her legs hang over the edge. The Fenton Binoculars she had been using were hanging around her neck. Sam put them to her eyes again and gave her area another sweep through before letting them drop once more.

"Clueless 1?" Sam touched the Fenton Phones she was wearing. "Goth 1 reporting."

" _Clueless 1 here,_ " the reply was rushed. " _Anything, Goth 1?_ "

"Sorry," Sam said sheepishly. "I was just bored. There's nothing here."

" _I'm flying over the school right now,_ " Danny said through the Fenton Phones. " _There's nothing here._ "

"All right. I'll leave you to it," Sam said. "Goth 1 out."

" _Same here._ "

Sam moved the speaker away from her mouth and idly lifted up the Fenton Binoculars. She was about to give her area another sweep when a cold voice made her drop them again.

"Why, hello, Sam."

Sam gasped and whirled around; facing the one ghost she had hoped to never see again.

* * *

"Danny _had_ to put me in charge of the mall, didn't he?" Tucker groaned, sitting on top of a fountain that had used to spray water. He had a pretty good view of the whole building. "At least these binoculars let me see through walls and detect ghostly energies." He held up the Fenton Binoculars Danny had given him.

Tucker had his PDA in one hand and the binoculars in the other. He was just in middle of checking the computer store when a sudden voice over the Fenton Phones broke his concentration.

" _Clueless 1? Goth 1 reporting._ " It was Sam. Tucker immediately pressed the Phones into his ear to be sure he didn't miss anything.

" _Clueless 1 here._ " Tucker could tell that Danny didn't like the formalities. " _Anything, Goth 1?_ "

Tucker waited expectantly for Sam's answer. What happened next nearly made him lose his seat on the fountain. " _Sorry. I was just bored. There's nothing here._ "

' ** _Sam_** _misusing the Fenton Phones?_ ' Tucker thought, stifling a snicker that would reveal he was eavesdropping. ' _Danny's not going to be happy._ '

" _I'm flying over the school right now. There's nothing here._ ' Tucker's jaw dropped. No scolding?

" _All right. I'll leave you to it,_ " Sam said. " _Goth 1 out._ "

" _Same here_."

Tucker stopped pressing the earpiece into his ear and breathed out. "Whew. I thought for a second there really was something wrong."

"What's wrong, Tucker?" a voice in his ear said.

"Eep!" Tucker yelped, falling off the fountain into the water below. He shifted his weight to his elbows, dripping wet.

An ectoplasmic blast to the side of him sent up a spray of water that further drenched his beret and shirt. Tucker looked up, fearing what he would see.

* * *

"I'm in charge of the town hall?" Jazz grumbled, looking up to the white sloped ceiling above her. "Couldn't I have had the school or something?" She stood in the middle of the entrance outside of the town hall. "Mom and Dad are patrolling the streets; Sam's got the rooftops; Danny has the whole city from the sky; and Tucker has the mall. Why did I get the town hall?"

Jazz looked over the empty town square and sighed, realizing that she would be alone in the building. She turned her back to the square and scanned the building with her binoculars. Seeing that there was nothing there, she dropped them.

"I never thought I'd hear myself say this but…this is boring." Jazz rolled her eyes to the sloped ceiling again. "This means that there's something seriously wrong with my brain if I'm not even panicking over a simple ghost."

"A simple ghost?" someone said, amused.

Jazz whirled around, looking all over the place for the source.

"What's wrong? Can't see me?" it sneered.

Jazz was about to lift the binoculars to her eyes when they were blasted out of her hands. She hissed in pain, clutching her burned hands.

"This is—" Jazz started saying into the Fenton Phones, panicked. The Fenton Phones on her ears were also fried with two well-aimed ghost rays. "Ow!" Her ears were slightly singed.

"Can't have you alerting everyone else, can we?" the voice said.

Jazz gasped as the ghost materialized into view.

* * *

"We've covered half the town now," Maddie said, inspecting the map that was laid out on her map. "Danny is covering most of it from the sky so we don't have to worry too much about a thorough sweep but we should check the rest to be sure."

"Ghost detecting weapons are online, Mads!" Jack said cheerfully, wrenching the wheel sharply to the right to avoid hitting a fire hydrant.

"A ghost detected yet?" Maddie asked, glancing at the screen in front of her that showed a grid.

"Nope!" Jack turned sharply to the left to clear a corner. "All clear!"

"What's that green blip in the corner?" Maddie pointed out, jabbing a finger in the top right of the screen. "It looks like a ghost."

Jack floored the brake, nearly sending everything in the RV flying into the front. "Why so it is! Get the Fenton ghost hunting weapons A.S.A.P.!"

Jack grabbed an ecto-gun just as Maddie was saying, "But, Jack! Wouldn't it be safer…" Jack jumped outside and started looking all over the place. "…inside?" Maddie sighed, reached for another ecto-gun, and jumped outside as well. She pressed the button on the Specter Deflector Danny had made them all wear and managed to put Jack's on as well. "Sweetie, wouldn't we be safer fighting from inside the RV?"

"But that's no fun!" Jack exclaimed. "I wanna shoot things! Namely, ghosts!"

"You can shoot things from the RV," Maddie persisted, keeping an eye on the ghost detecting weapon in the RV. The green blip was getting a little closer to their location.

"I mean with an ecto-gun!" Jack said brightly, shooting off a barrage of ecto-blasts.

"We should call Danny up," Maddie said. "He did say that if we notice anything suspicious we should contact him."

"This is Ghost Hunter 1 reporting," Maddie said. "We have—" The blip disappeared from the screen.

" _Ghost Hunter 1?_ " she could hear Danny saying. " _Did you find something?_ "

"N-no," Maddie said, climbing over the driver's seat to inspect the detector. "It's nothing. Ghost Hunter 1 out."

" _Clueless 1 out._ "

Maddie climbed out of the car seat and closed the door behind her just as the ghost alarm went off. She whirled around, eyes widening as she saw that the ghost detector had just picked up on a ghost again and it was…right in their midst.

"Curious?" The voice sent chills down her spine. She moved closer to her husband, who had his ecto-gun at the ready. "Are you wondering why that detector didn't pick me up?"

"Show yourself, ghost!" Jack shouted.

"How amusing," the voice said, clearly not amused. "You're still sticking to those ridiculous catch phrases of yours."

"If you're a man you'll show yourself!" Maddie said furiously.

"One catch: I'm not a man, I'm a _ghost._ But since you asked, I'll oblige."

In another second, the ghost was visible. Both parents gasped as they saw its appearance.

* * *

"You." Sam attempted to back up before remembering that she was on a roof. Instead, she edged sideways.

"Me," the evil version of Danny said. "Is that all you have to say, Sam, to me?"

"I have nothing to say to a creep like you," Sam said vehemently. "But I know someone who might." She put a hand to the Fenton Phones and said, "This is Goth—" She was cut off by two ghost rays which blasted the Phones off of her ears.

"Can't have you calling anyone up now, can we?" Phantom said.

Sam wordlessly activated the Specter Deflector on her waist and dove under Phantom, sliding halfway across the roof she was on. She rolled to her feet and sprinted for the door that would lead her through the building and to the ground floor.

She knew that Phantom would be flying after her by now but had eyes only for the door.

Sam slammed into it, groped mindlessly for the handle for a few seconds before grasping it and pulling it open. She slid into the crack and immediately started thundering down the steps, her breathing loud in her ears.

"You can run but you can't hide," she heard Phantom say from somewhere above her. She spared a glance above her to see him flying down to her level.

She tore open a door on a level and slammed it shut behind her, sprinting down the hallway she found herself in.

' _Stupid, stupid,_ ' she reprimanded herself. ' _He can turn intangible. Why didn't you pay attention?_ '

"Nice try, Sam." Phantom materialized in front of her. The girl skidded to a stop and, panting heavily, began to back up. "You can't escape me." He suddenly swooped down to breathe in her face, "Fortunately for you, you're still needed."

Sam stumbled backwards at the sudden approach on Phantom's account and landed on her butt. The ghost's hand started to glow green and she rolled to the side, evading an ectoplasmic ray that would've surely fried her.

Now on her stomach, she put a boot under her and pulled herself to her feet, again running away from Phantom. She was aware of how stupid she must look, running away from a ghost that would surely find her again.

' _I have to get out,_ ' Sam thought, running to the stairs again.

She nearly missed slamming into the door again but avoided it by wrenching the door handle and flying forwards down the first few steps. She steadied herself for a split second before swinging around the corner to descend the next flight with a huge leap that would've made an Olympian proud.

Jolting her ankle a little on the landing, she sprinted down the next flight of steps.

' _Where…is he?_ ' Sam stopped abruptly on a midway point between the flights and tried to slow her breathing, looking around for the ghost who should be there. She reached for the binoculars around her neck before a sudden blur slammed into her, sending her hurtling down another flight.

"Aaargh!" Sam crashed into a wall and blinked, dazed, trying to right her vision. She noticed too late Phantom's figure grasping her by her throat.

* * *

"You!" Tucker managed to get out, scrambling to his feet and nearly slipping in the water.

"Honestly," the older version of Danny said, "is that all you people can say? 'You'? It's 'you' this, 'you' that. Has it ever occurred to you people that I have a name?"

"You're an evil alternate version of Danny," Tucker said, climbing out of the fountain and making ready to sprint at a moment's notice. "Why would we ask you your name?"

"To save you from always trying to address me by 'you'," the ghost said, landing on the ground in front of Tucker.

"I'll call you _Phantom_ then, huh?" Tucker said, backing up. "What do you want?"

"Answering questions from nerds like you is not on my to-do list," Phantom said with a sneer on his face.

"I'm not a nerd!" Tucker protested. He brought the speaker to his mouth and said, "Ghost!" Instead of alarmed cries, he was met by static. "What's going on?"

"The techno geek speechless. I think I just saw a once in a lifetime event," Phantom drawled, watching amusedly as Tucker attempted to get the Fenton Phones working.

"Oh crud!" he said, remembering that he had fallen into the water. Tucker immediately pulled off the Fenton Phones before they could shock him and threw them to the floor, where they crackled, giving off green electricity.

"No contact?" Phantom raised an eyebrow. He lifted up a foot into the air. "I think this just made my job easier."

Tucker dove aside as Phantom shot towards him. "Don't count on that." Tucker activated the Specter Deflector he wore. "We're well prepared when it comes to you, Phantom."

"Are you really?" Phantom grinned. "Or is it just the illusion of being well prepared?"

"What do you mean?" Tucker reached under his jacket for the lipstick he always carried around in case of ghost attacks. He also had an ecto-gun attached to his belt but he wasn't about to let the evil ghost know that.

Phantom shrugged, looking bored. "I don't suppose you'll understand. I'm far different from anything you've ever encountered."

"Don't count on that," Tucker said, unscrewing the lipstick.

"Oh?" Phantom's hands started to glow green. "How many other future ghosts have you met?"

"Just you and SkulkTech," Tucker admitted. "But that one time was enough." He aimed the lipstick he had and fired, the shot pushing him backwards. He used the distraction it provided and fled, trying to find a way out of the mall to warn Danny.

"I don't know whether I should laugh or feel disgusted," Phantom said, appearing by the boy.

"Agh!" Tucker jumped onto a bench, attempted to spring away but instead landed on his face and skidded into a pile of plants. He sat up, slightly dazed.

"Why do you carry a lipstick?" Phantom asked, snatching Tucker up by his shirt and holding him up to his face. The Specter Deflector immediately activated and shocked the ghost. "AAARGH!" He dropped the boy, wincing and cringing from the pain. A snarl crossed his face and he tore the belt off of Tucker before picking him up again. "Why you."

"Me. And I think you should know." Tucker grabbed the ghost's hand. "It's not just _a_ lipstick," Tucker said, holding the weapon up to Phantom's face. "It's _the_ lipstick." The point of it flared green and hit Phantom, blasting him back several meters. Doing so, he also dropped Tucker, who scrambled to his feet and sped down an escalator to try and find the exit.

"Where's the exit? Where's the exit?" Tucker muttered, sprinting by a row of shops to turn right into another corridor. He stopped, clutching his side while panting. "Oh come on! I spend so much time in here! How can I get lost?"

"Looking for this?" Phantom appeared in front of him, dropping a pile of exit signs onto the floor.

"Dude, you are twisted," Tucker said, backing up from the crackling pile. ' _Darn it. I don't even have the Specter Deflector now._ '

"Why thank you," Phantom said, following Tucker's moves as he landed on the ground. "Now that there's nowhere to run, why don't you stay here with me?"

"Why should I?" Tucker flared up, trying not to show how scared he felt. He turned tail and ran, knowing that Phantom would be at his heels.

"Trying to run again, are we?" he heard Phantom say.

The next thing he knew was that something hot and burning struck him in the back, sending him flying towards a stand full of jewelry. Tucker sat up, wincing from the pain as he did so. Several necklaces dangled off of his beret and he had an earring attached to his shirt.

Before he could stand up, he felt Phantom slam into him and tried to suppress the fear he felt at being lifted up of the ground. He was now dangling above the whole mall, his only support being Phantom's hand at his shirt. That same hand was now glowing green and singing the threads.

' _Oh crud._ ' Tucker braced himself for what he knew he had to do.

* * *

"You again!" Jazz cried, pulling out the Fenton Peeler she had taken previously. "What do you want now? The C.A.T. is over!" She also activated the Specter Deflector.

"I never wanted the C.A.T.," the ghost said, raising an eyebrow. "Having trouble figuring things out, Jazz?"

Jazz activated the weapon and let the body armor cover her. "Then why were you after the C.A.T. answers?"

"Honestly," Danny's older version said, bored, "can't you figure out _why_ I wanted the answers?"

"To cheat and turn into what you're now!" Jazz retorted.

"Think about what you're saying, Jazz," Phantom said. "How can I turn into what I have become now by a simple cheat?" He landed on the ground and watched Jazz move the weapon accordingly. He seemed amused. "Let me help you. What did I do _after_ the test?"

"You didn't do anything!" Jazz said. "You left me unconscious and I went to encounter you but Danny was there instead!"

"Clockwork again." Phantom sighed before letting an evil grin cross his face. "Well, now, I suppose I'll just have to help you." He took a step closer the teenager. "What is the one thing that would drive me over the edge?"

"Don't dare compare yourself to my little brother!" Jazz said furiously. "You're nothing like—"

"I _am_ him, Jazz," Phantom broke in, smiling in a way that Jazz didn't like. "Answer my question before I decide to do something you won't like at all."

"The only thing that would drive my little brother crazy," Jazz repeated. Her eyes widened. "His drive. You're trying to destroy what drives my little brother!"

"His brain?" Phantom raised an eyebrow. "No, sorry. I'm not interested in destroying his brain."

"I wasn't talking about his brain!" Jazz snapped. She took a breath to calm herself. ' _Calm down, Jazz. He's trying to psyche you out. He knows I wasn't talking about that._ '

Phantom smirked. "Smart, Jazz. Always the psychologist. Yes. Losing my drive would certainly drive me over the edge. Of course, I no longer have a drive."

"You're trying to destroy Amity Park!"

"Not exactly, Jazz. I'm destroying something much more precious to him."

What was more precious to her little brother than anything else?

"Us," Jazz breathed, realization sinking into her brain like a stone. "You're out to destroy us."

Phantom laughed. "Correct. I turned into what I am now due to an unfortunate accident with a boiler. The Nasty Burger boiler to be more exact. Who knew that one little mishap with a fireball of highly combustible condiments could ruin everything?"

"Danny won't let you!" Jazz said. "And more importantly, _I_ won't let you do it!"

"What can you do? You're just a human." Phantom smiled an ugly smile. "Killing you all will give my younger self just the motivation he needs to do what is needed to turn into me. And you won't stop me _or_ him."

Jazz wracked her brains for a good retort but couldn't think of anything. Instead, she lifted up the Fenton Peeler and fired.

Phantom dodged it and flew towards Jazz. He knocked the gun out of Jazz's hands, deactivating the suit and causing it to retreat into the small device. He blasted the flying Fenton Peeler into smithereens and turned back to the trembling teenager.

Only catch was: Jazz was nowhere to be seen.

* * *

Both Jack and Maddie stared at the hovering ghost before them. His blazing white hair, the cape, and most importantly, the insignia on the chest.

"Who are you?" Maddie demanded. "How did you get past the ghost detecting weapons in the RV?"

"So many questions," he sneered, "but unfortunately, not enough time to answer all of them. As for whom I am, you should know that well enough."

"Why do you have Danny's design?" Jack asked. His eyes narrowed. "Did you steal it?"

"Why would I steal this thing?" the ghost wondered. "Oh yes. Perhaps because it belongs to your son? Your son who has probably been acting strange? Twitchy perhaps?"

"How do you know about that? And how did you get past the ghost detecting weapons?" Maddie demanded again.

"If you must know, I made a portal to the Ghost Zone and then another one to here," the ghost said, landing on the ground in front of them. "Honestly, ghost detecting weapons can be so _childish_."

"Who are you?" Jack asked. "Why do you have—?"

"His emblem?" the ghost prompted. "Don't tell me you haven't figured it out yet. Or didn't he tell you?" A sneer crossed his face. "Of course. My younger self would fear your denial."

" _Your younger self?_ " both parents cried.

"Why yes," the ghost said, grinning. "Didn't you hear? You had a nasty accident that caused your dear son to lose all hope he had and made him split his ghost half, thereby creating me."

"Liar!" Jack shouted, shooting the ecto-gun at the ghost.

A hole formed in the ghost's chest, allowing the beam to fly straight through. He reformed it again afterwards, an evil grin plastered on his face.

"How do you explain me being called Phantom then?" he asked. "I _am_ your dear boy. I am your son as what he could be ten years down the road." His face twisted into an angry expression. "As for you, of course, you'll have to die."

Maddie had just noticed that Jack was still wearing his Fenton Phones. Maybe if she could get to them she could send a quick call to Danny. The only problem was that Phantom was standing right there.

"Prepare to be evaporated, spook!" Jack said, aiming his ecto-gun at the ghost before Maddie could do anything.

"Evaporated by what? Your bad aim?" Phantom lifted up into the air, his cape billowing behind him. "Don't think you can stop me. I _am_ going to get what I want."

"No you won't!" Jack shot several ecto-beams at the ghost, all of which were dodged and one of them was met by a ghost ray in midair to form a small cloud of smoke that spread over the ghost hunters.

"It seems your aim has improved." Phantom was dangerously close. Maddie could tell. "Unfortunately…" Maddie could feel a burning warmth through her jumpsuit. "…not enough." She nearly managed to twist out of the way when the ectoplasmic blast Phantom had let loose hit her. She bit back a cry of pain as the jumpsuit covering her back was partially destroyed.

"Why, you spook!" Jack shouted in rage once he saw what Phantom had done to his wife.

"Why what?" Phantom asked, wrenching Maddie's hair back. That was when the Specter Deflector she had on kicked in, electrocuting the evil ghost. "AAAARGH!"

"Maddie!" Jack grabbed his wife's arm to pull her away from Phantom. "Are you okay?"

"I'm…fine," Maddie said, wincing in pain at the burn the ghost ray had caused to her back. "It could have been worse."

"And it will," Phantom said. The two turned their heads in his direction but couldn't dodge the ghost rays he aimed at their waists, which destroyed the Specter Deflectors they had on. "Now with nothing to hold me back, do you honestly think I'll let you live?"

"Eat this, you ectoplasmic slime ball!" Jack declared, firing off another few rounds of his ecto-gun.

"I'd rather not, thank you," Phantom said, dodging the blasts to come up against Jack. He slammed into the ghost hunter without a moment's hesitation and sent the man flying into a nearby building. "Now for you." He turned to Maddie, an evil grin on his face.

' _Damn it!_ ' Maddie held up the ecto-gun she had in her hands but knew it would be close to worthless against Phantom. ' _Danny!_ '


	13. The Middle

' _The…Specter Deflector,_ ' Sam thought as his hand closed around her throat. She waited expectantly for Phantom to let go of her but instead, he just lifted her up and pinned her to the wall.

"Looking for this?" Phantom held up an inactivated Specter Deflector. "You really should pay more attention, Sam."

"H-how?" Sam grabbed his hand, which was slowly choking her.

"You didn't actually think this thing would hold me off for long?" Phantom said. "I merely had to deactivate it and take it off. Your fear was enough of a distraction for me."

"G-get o-off of m-me," Sam got out through the slowly constricting hold he had on her throat.

"Why should I? So you can run away again?" Phantom dropped the Specter Deflector onto the floor and crushed it beneath a foot. "You're needed…for what I have to do."

Sam used whatever strength she had left to kick the ghost to the other side of the narrow shaft they were in. Then, without waiting for him to recover, she grabbed a railing, pushed herself up and let herself drop to the floor, which wasn't very far away. She landed heavily, stumbling forward and nearly losing her balance.

Sam tried to catch her breath as she pelted through the building to the streets. She massaged her throat and slammed the door open, finally emerging onto Amity Park's streets.

She ran straight down the street, desperately hoping for the sight of the RV that would reveal Jack and Maddie.

She was almost to the end of the block when an ectoplasmic blast struck the ground in front of her feet, sending her flying backwards. She landed on her back and blinked the tears from her eyes that came with the pain. Sam breathed in deeply, trying not to panic at the sight of the ghost hovering above her.

"Panicking, are we?" Phantom said, landing on the ground next to her. He leaned over her, staring straight into her face. "I congratulate you on lasting so long."

Sam gulped another breath down and rolled over to spring to her feet. She crouched down, ready to run.

"You're honestly going to try and run again?" Phantom asked, bored. "I suppose you do have spunk."

"Spunk isn't the last of it," Sam snarled. She groped into her boot for a small ecto-gun she had taken. She cursed the fact that she hadn't thought to take the Fenton Wrist Ray. "What do you want?"

Phantom laughed darkly. Sam waited as the ghost continued to laugh. She started backing up, preparing for a quick escape. When he finally stopped, Phantom looked at her and grinned.

"I want you, of course," Phantom said.

Sam stopped in mid-step, petrified at his new tone.

"I also want everyone else that is dear to my younger self."

"Amity Park?" Sam found her voice. She put her foot down and hesitantly picked up the other.

"No." Phantom grinned again. "But of course, I wouldn't expect you to remember."

"You want to kill us all, don't you?" Sam said. "Danny told us. He told us how you tried to kill us in an attempt to get Danny to turn into you. Don't you get it? He's not going to!"

"I beg to differ," Phantom said smoothly, taking several steps over to the Goth. "I'm still here. I still exist. It means that he still turns into me."

' _He really doesn't know_ ,' Sam thought, taking a few steps back to counter the ghost's approach. ' _And I'm not about to tell him._ '

"No retort?" Phantom said. He held up his fists, which started to glow green. "I do suppose I should credit you on surviving this long."

Sam gulped and tried to wet her dry mouth. "I'll tell you this. Danny promised us. He promised us that he wouldn't turn into you. And a promise—"

"Means nothing," Phantom interrupted, his red eyes boring into her own. "You are _such_ children. Promises? They mean nothing."

"You're wrong," Sam said. She snapped out the ecto-gun she had been holding. "And I'm going to prove it."

"Be my guest," Phantom said, releasing his ghost rays.

Sam jumped backwards, letting them hit the ground. She sprang onto a mailbox and propelled herself off, landing behind Phantom, who had attempted to blast her once more.

Sam narrowly ducked another ghost ray and fired her ecto-gun rapidly, nearly scoring several hits. The rest the ghost simply phased through.

"You really think you can win?" Phantom flew up close to Sam, turning into a green mist with red eyes to avoid a few more shots from her gun. He knocked the gun out of her hands and slammed her into a building, cracking the outside of it as he did so.

Sam blinked the stars out of her eyes as she tried to breathe through the pain.

"You're just a human," Phantom said. "A human who is downtrodden by her own emotions."

"You – you used to be human, too," Sam managed to get out.

Phantom lifted her up even higher. "I gave up my human half long ago. Don't compare me to you."

Sam eyed the ecto-gun on the ground that was lying several dozen feet away. She took in a breath and kicked Phantom's arm. Hard.

Phantom hadn't expected that and he dropped her in reflex. Sam rolled away. She bounced to her feet and dove across the street for the ecto-gun. She grabbed it and rolled onto her back, still skidding a bit.

Sam aimed the ecto-gun at Phantom and fired, scoring a hit in his chest. She flipped backwards on the ground and landed on her feet, ready to fire again.

"Just because you got in one shot doesn't mean you get confident," Phantom said, zooming towards her.

Sam, in panic, fired off several erratic shots which only served to create several small smoke clouds. Phantom reached her in a split-second. He dove down to the ground, grabbed her leg and swung her straight across the street into a lamppost.

Sam arched her back in pain as that was where she had hit the lamppost. She let go of the ecto-gun and slid down to the ground, unable to move.

She tried to breathe in through the pain but only managed to get snatches of air. She saw Phantom's boots walk towards her and tried to move feebly but only served to send more bolts of pain through her back.

"You're lucky I didn't break it," Phantom said, stopping before her. "I could have done far worse. Fortunately for you, though, I need you alive. For now."

These words spurred her determination and Sam managed to push herself to her knees, ignoring the pain in her back.

"You're still trying?" Sam looked up at Phantom, glaring at him.

"I don't give up easily," Sam said through gritted teeth. "I would've thought you'd remember that."

"Why so I do," Phantom said.

"Then you should know I'm not going down without a fight!" Sam announced loudly. She feinted a left and jumped to the right, springing onto a mailbox again. This time, however, the pain in her back caused her to slip and fall, jolting her already weak ankle. ' _Darn it. I already jolted that ankle in the building._ ' Sam winced as she tried to get up but failed as her ankle gave way beneath her. She simply settled for scrambling backwards as Phantom approached her.

"Why don't you suck me into that infernal thermos you always carry around?" Phantom asked.

By habit, Sam reached for the thermos at her waist before remembering that Danny had never given her one. In fact, he hadn't given any of them a thermos. The plan had been that Danny catch Phantom with the new thermos his parents made. Everyone else had merely been instructed to watch out for Phantom and to alert Danny if they saw him.

' _Why didn't any of us object to that?_ ' Sam bit her lip as Phantom came closer. ' _If I had the thermos I'd at least stand a chance._ '

"It's been a blast, Sam, but I think it's time to close the curtains," Phantom said, staring down at her.

"Ooh. Aren't you the smart mouth," Sam shot back.

Phantom's hand glowed green and he shot it at Sam, who flew backwards straight into a building, effectively knocking her unconscious.

"One down, four to go," Phantom said, a smirk on his face. He formed a portal and tossed Sam inside before dissipating into green smoke.

* * *

Tucker was dangling about a hundred feet off the ground. His only support was an evil ghost and even that was slowly fading as Phantom's hand glowed green, his ghostly energies eating away at Tucker's shirt.

Tucker inspected his surroundings for what he had to do. He had one hand on his ecto-gun and the other still held the smoking lipstick. He took a breath, trying to appear as if he was resigned to his fate.

"Scared, Tucker?" Phantom said, increasing the flow of his ghostly energies just a bit more. Tucker's shirt started to sizzle. "I would be."

"You would be scared of heights?" Tucker couldn't resist asking.

"There are times I miss your droll sense of humor," Phantom said, a glint of malice in his red eyes. Tucker had a strong feeling of déjà vu and flashed back to when Danny had claimed that he had fixed the boiler from exploding. It had been almost the exact same phrase.

"Hey, you were the one who said that he fixed the boiler," Tucker said, releasing the grip on his ecto-gun to grab Phantom's hand. "It wasn't Danny, was it?"

"The techno geek figures it out," Phantom said, a grin on his face. "What was it that told you?"

"A feeling of déjà vu," Tucker admitted. "You're probably going to feel it, too."

Phantom raised an eyebrow. "And why is that?"

"Because of…" Tucker kicked out, pushing off Phantom's chest. "…this!" Tucker was momentarily propelled through the air because of the force he had used in kicking off the ghost. He had his eye on a flag pole he had caught sight of in the middle of the chat and reached out for it.

Tucker grabbed it and swung back once before letting his momentum carry him into a trampoline that was displayed in the middle of the ceiling. He bounced off of it and this time grabbed a railing that was conveniently located in the ceiling. Tucker clambered up on it and balanced himself on it by hugging it to his chest. He peered down to the dizzying drop below.

There was a whole network of rails outlined on the mall ceiling, presumably for more displays like the trampoline he had bounced off earlier. Tucker suddenly wished he had let Phantom drop him to the floor.

' _Whoa. No way. Don't go there._ ' Tucker slapped himself. ' _At least I'm alive._ ' He spotted Phantom flying towards him. Tucker gulped. ' _For now._ ' He pushed himself up and bent his knees. He still had both hands on the railing and was hunched over, trying to make sure he wouldn't fall if he had to suddenly let go. ' _Time for some acrobatics._ ' Tucker grinned despite his situation. ' _Wish Sam could see me now. She'd eat her stockings._ '

"What are you going to do up there?" Phantom sneered. "Be a monkey?"

"In a manner of speaking," Tucker murmured, letting go of the railing and wobbling wildly before steadying himself. "Wanna catch a monkey?" he taunted the other ghost below him, grinning.

Phantom simply responded by firing a steady ectoplasmic beam that ate away at the metal by Tucker's feet. It suddenly collapsed.

"Agh!" Tucker leapt for the next railing and momentarily touched the ceiling before landing and almost falling over. He managed to grab it with one hand and hung there with one hand grasping the railing and his legs wrapped around it. The blood rushed to his head as he looked at Phantom from a sideways perspective.

"This ends now," Phantom announced in a cold voice.

"How?" Tucker replied confidently. "You can't destroy this whole thing without letting it fall in onto your head!"

"One word, Tucker: intangibility," Phantom said.

Tucker winced. "Oops."

"Don't worry." Phantom grinned. "I need you alive for this."

"Why does that give me such a bad feeling?" Tucker righted his stance and watched the ghost.

"Because it should." Phantom put his hands together to form a large ball of ectoplasmic energy. The energy around it crackled and hissed as he fed it, slowly building it to the size of a basketball.

Tucker immediately scrambled to his feet as best as he could and prepared for a crash landing. He had his eye on a mattress on the ground floor that seemed to be spongy enough to cushion his fall.

"See you around, Tucker," Phantom said, grinning as he released the ball of energy.

"Yep!" Tucker let himself drop down. " _But not in the afterlife_!" he shouted.

A loud explosion from behind him pushed forwards even faster. Tucker felt some debris clatter on his back and hoped that nothing too large would hit him.

As the ground came uncomfortably close, Tucker pulled out the ecto-gun he had hidden under his shirt and fired it at the tiles. The impact sent him upwards a little and he kept the trigger pressed, sending a constant stream of ecto-energies towards the ground.

He angled the gun just enough to send him flying in an angle that left him free to fall onto the mattress. He bounced up a couple of feet before rolling to the side just in time to avoid being squashed by a large piece of the ceiling that had fallen in.

"Good plan but not good enough," Tucker heard someone say before something slammed into him.

"Aaaah!" Tucker crashed into a large stand that was filled with plant pots. A couple fell on his head and nearly knocked him out. "Ow." He lifted up the pot on his head to see Phantom approaching him on foot.

"It's time to put an end to this nonsense," Phantom declared.

' _What happened to the ecto-gun?_ ' Tucker looked for it to see it smashed into pieces by Phantom's feet. ' _Oh crud._ '

"You lasted a lot longer than anyone would've given you credit for." Phantom's hand began to glow green. "It's too bad that it's all over now."

Tucker tried to get up but intense pain shot up his right leg. He looked down to see a large shard from a pot digging into his pant. Blood leaked out from the edges.

"Good night." Phantom unleashed his ectoplasmic blast and struck Tucker. The force of it knocked the boy straight back through the stand and into a nearby shop window. The glass shattered, piercing everything nearby. Phantom turned intangible to avoid a few pieces.

He stepped over to the shop window and picked an unconscious Tucker up by the shirt. He formed a portal and threw the techno geek inside before disappearing into green smoke.

* * *

Jazz panted heavily, hiding behind the podium in the town hall. She had managed to run away when Phantom had been briefly occupied with destroying the Fenton Peeler. Now she was Peeler-less, Deflector-less, and Phone-less. The only weapons she had left was a small ecto-gun and a mini lipstick which Tucker had slipped to her. What was she supposed to do with a lipstick? Put makeup on him? Oh yes. She could totally see Phantom dying from a makeup overload.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are, Jazz," she could hear Phantom calling. Jazz quieted her breathing and slid under the podium to debate her possible options.

Option 1: She could always make a run for it. But the problem with that was that Phantom would most likely catch her before she could get out of the town hall.

Option 2: She could simply lie there and hope that Phantom wouldn't catch her. The drawback with that option was that he most likely _would_ catch her.

Option 3: She could stand and fight the ghost and hope to win, however slim the chances. The only problem with _that_ option was that Danny had been extremely adamant about no one facing Phantom by themselves. In fact, all their plans had involved them notifying Danny about him via the Fenton Phones. She hadn't even thought to take a thermos. No matter how bad her aim was, she would've scored a hit sooner or later. Besides, she seemed to suck in Danny more often than not in the first place.

' _The only option that seems most favorable is the 'hiding and waiting' option,_ ' Jazz figured. ' _Problem with that option is that I'll go down without even fighting._ ' She bit her lip, thinking. ' _What do I do? I can't contact Danny; I don't have the Specter Deflector; I don't have the Peeler; and I don't even have a thermos! And what am I supposed to do with this mini ecto-gun? It doesn't even have enough energy to vaporize the Box Ghost! And what the heck am I supposed to with a tube of lipstick?_ '

Jazz held her breath as she saw a shadow pass by. She prayed that he wouldn't find her and let out a small breath of relief when the shadow disappeared.

Making up her mind, Jazz crept backwards further under the podium and turned around to keep crawling to the back of the town hall. She soon came to the other side of the podium and cautiously poked her head out. Looking around, she couldn't see the ghost anywhere and slowly exited from her shelter.

Jazz crawled quickly over to a chair and hid underneath it before darting to a bookshelf and sliding behind it.

' _Where is he?_ ' Jazz peeked through a crack in the wood. The only thing she saw was darkness as the books obscured her vision.

"Looking for me, Jazz?" The teenager froze and hoped that he hadn't found her. "I would be more worried about myself." The bookshelf in front of her exploded. Jazz shielded her face from the debris but felt some of it graze her cheeks. "After all…" Jazz uncovered her face to see Phantom standing before her with a glowing hand. "…it seems this game of hide-and-seek is over."

"It's not over yet!" Jazz said. She braced herself for a quick getaway.

"Where are you going to hide?"

Jazz started to say that she was going to hide under the podium but then noticed the rubble behind the ghost. He had already destroyed it.

"Face it, Jazz," Phantom said. "You've lost. How are you going to escape? Is the answer 'A', running away? Not likely as I'll catch you. 'B', fighting? I'll beat you anyway. 'C', hiding and waiting me out? I have an endless patience, Jazz, and I'll find you. Or is it 'D', none of the above?" Phantom released his ghost ray and created a smoke cloud of the debris that caved in from the wall.

"The answer is"—Phantom turned around, eyes widening as he saw Jazz with a flaring ecto-gun—" 'B'!" Jazz fired the ecto-gun and knocked Phantom back. "I choose to fight!"

Phantom waved the smoke away, glaring at the obstinate ghost hunter. "How noble. You _are_ going to—"

"Lose? Maybe…" Jazz tightened the trigger. "Or maybe I'll beat you!"

"Not likely." Phantom stepped aside to avoid the ecto-beam. "What makes you think you can defeat me?"

"I have a heart!" Jazz declared, her eyes narrowing as she jumped aside to dodge a ghost ray.

"Funny." Phantom followed Jazz. "I do, too. I just don't let it weigh me down."

" _You_ say you have a heart? You destroyed that heart when you were born! _I_ say you're heartless!"

"I was born?" Phantom raised an eyebrow. "In a matter of speaking, I was. As for my heart, you could say I stopped listening to it long ago. What's the use if it only weighs you down?"

"It lifts you up, too!" Jazz argued, giving off another shot with her ecto-gun. "How did my little brother defeat you last time if he didn't have a heart?"

"Sheer desperation and a power he shouldn't have gotten for ten years," Phantom responded, no longer grinning. "Hearts only weigh you down. Look at you, powerless because you have a heart. And look at me."

"I can think of a dozen other things to counteract your argument," Jazz said, "but it seems that nothing will get through to you."

"Always the psychologist," Phantom said. He spread his feet out and let his hands glow green. "But that brain of yours won't save you here."

"Eep!" Jazz tried to jump aside but the ectoplasmic ray hit her head on, knocking her backwards into a pile of chairs. The ecto-gun flew through the air and then burst apart after being hit by a ghost ray.

"I should give you credit for lasting this long, Jazz," Phantom said, stepping beside her. He reached down to pick her up by her shirt. "It ends now."

"I suppose it does," Jazz admitted, trying to clear her head from the daze the attack had gotten it into. "Makeup?"

"What?"

" _I said, 'Makeup?_ ' " Jazz lifted up the lipstick Tucker had given her and uncapped it. Doing so, she released a small green stream of energy from the tip which blasted Phantom backwards. "Wow. It is good for something."

She saw a black gloved hand wave away the smoke and reveal Phantom's face. Jazz braced herself for the attack. She aimed the lipstick ecto-gun again and fired. The beam tore a sizzling hole in the wall above Phantom's flaming hair.

"Nice aim, Jazz." Phantom smirked.

"Blast it." Jazz scowled and aimed again but her aim was nothing to be proud of. This time she hit the wall besides Phantom's arm.

"You don't learn, do you?" Phantom floated up in the air. "You can't win. I'm inevitable."

He zoomed towards Jazz, who kept firing off the lipstick but missing by incredibly long shots. One shot even hit the ceiling.

Phantom flew low to the ground to avoid being hit by a stray lipstick beam and swept up to Jazz's level, grinning in her face.

"Nighty night," he said. He put a hand on Jazz's chest and it glowed green, enveloping her whole body in the light. Jazz fell unconscious and leaned forward into his arms. Phantom sliced open a portal to the Ghost Zone and dropped Jazz into it before saying, "Two more…before my revenge is complete." He turned into green smoke and vanished, leaving the rubble in the town hall behind.

* * *

Jack lay among the debris of a building and only Maddie was left facing Phantom with a single ecto-gun. Phantom stood between she and RV and she had no way of contacting Danny.

' _It's all or nothing,_ ' Maddie thought desperately. ' _I need to get Jack's Fenton Phones so Danny knows what's happening._ ' She shot a glance to the rubble where her husband lay and hoped fervently that he was all right.

"Hoping that oaf can rescue you?" Phantom said. A malevolent smirk crossed his face. "I wouldn't count on it."

"Jack is not an oaf!" Maddie defended her husband. "He's brave, loyal, and the best man alive! And he's…" she trailed off as she realized that Phantom was looking bored with a faint sign of disgust on his face. "Okay, he's a bit of an oaf!" she began again furiously. "But that doesn't mean he's not a good husband! He can be a bit rash and he sometimes doesn't think things through but he always puts us first!"

"This would be so touching if I still had a heart," Phantom said. "But fortunately, I gave that up long ago."

"Ghosts have hearts?" Maddie asked scornfully. "Don't make me laugh! In no way are you in any semblance related to _my son_!"

"How many times do I have to tell you?" Phantom's voice was getting dangerously low. "I _am_ your dear boy!" He put a foot back and brought up a blazing fist. "Can't recognize the similarities? Then how about I show you!" He leapt off the ground and shot towards Maddie, his cape billowing behind him.

Maddie instantly rolled out of the way and avoided a devastating punch that created a small crater in the spot she had been standing in. Without missing a beat, she got to her feet and sprinted to where Jack was lying.

She felt a heat approaching by her right shoulder and her reflexes kicked in. She twisted out of the way and did a quick spin in the air to land on one knee and a foot. She leveled the ecto-gun in her hands and fired off a few rounds.

To her dismay, Phantom dodged all of them by turning intangible and then took the offensive by blasting the last shot with his own ecto-beam. The small cloud of smoke left her blind until she saw a green blast that fired up right before her nose. Maddie barely had time to jump up a bit before the ghost ray hit her in the chest and threw her backwards into the same building Jack was in.

Maddie groaned and felt the tender spot in her chest. Her jumpsuit was slightly singed and torn and she was sure she had a burn but it wasn't anything too serious. Phantom had apparently gone easy on her.

She twisted her head to the side to nearly cry out in shock before a gloved hand clamped over her mouth.

"Shh!" Jack warned. He was deadly serious. "I was lying low until I could do something. By the way, did you really mean everything you said?"

"Every word," Maddie whispered back. "Do you have a plan?"

"I was hoping you had one," Jack replied, grim.

Maddie eyed the Fenton Phones in Jack's ears. "Actually, I have a small one. Quick, before he gets here, give me your Fenton Phones. We need to tell Danny."

"Are you crazy, Mads?" Jack seemed incredulous. "That ghost would pummel Danny!"

"He _did_ want us to tell him!" Maddie argued in a low voice. She hoped Phantom wasn't aware that they were both conscious and discussing their options. "He knows what he's doing! I admit I don't like him going off alone against Ph – this ghost," she amended hastily upon seeing Jack's face, "but he was adamant on us telling him if anything went wrong!"

"True," Jack said, "but I think the Fenton Phones were jolted a bit when I got pushed into this building. I can't get any readings on anyone. It's deathly silent."

"Don't say that." Maddie peered over a slab of rubble but since it was getting dark, she couldn't see anything. "Can you _try_ to contact Danny? He's not going to be happy if he sees us in this mess."

"Why hasn't he seen us by now?" Jack asked quietly. He was keeping his huge form close to the ground. It was a surprise that his eyesore of a jumpsuit hadn't given away their location.

"He must've planned this out thoroughly," Maddie said grimly. She hefted her ecto-gun into a different position. "Danny might be at the other side of the city for all we know. _Please_ , Jack; Danny's the only one with a thermos."

"I'll see if I can get them to work," Jack agreed grudgingly.

Before Jack could do anything, though, Maddie gave out a cry of alarm. "Run!"

She had seen the incoming ghost ray and sprang to her feet to push Jack out of the way. The force of the impact of the ghost ray sent them propelling further through the air than would've been possible under normal circumstances.

"I see you're still alive," Phantom said upon seeing Jack's form.

"No mere ghost can take down Jack Fenton!" Jack proclaimed with a hint of pride in his voice.

"Unfortunately for you," Phantom said, "I'm not a mere ghost."

"He means it, Jack," Maddie said in a low voice. "He claims he's Danny if you recall."

"Impossible!" Jack denied brazenly. "You're delusional!"

"Delusional about what?" Phantom hadn't caught Maddie's words. "About defeating you? I assure you I am not delusional about my skills."

"Enough talking, Jack!" Maddie insisted firmly and quietly. "Try and contact Danny!"

"You've got an ecto-gun, haven't you?" Jack asked, his eyes never straying from the ghost standing before them.

"Yes," Maddie said, perturbed. "What's your—?"

"I've got an ecto-gun, too," Jack went on, ignoring her last words. "No ghost is going to get away by claiming that he's Danny. He's going to get the Fenton Punishment for lying!"

"We have a Fenton Punishment?" Maddie was confused.

"We do now!" Jack suddenly shouted, taking both Maddie and Phantom by surprise. "Eat this, spook!" He whipped out a large ecto-gun and neither Maddie nor Phantom could figure out how he had gotten it on his person without looking even larger than he was looking at the moment. "No ghost gets away with pretending to be our son!"

"Oh please," Phantom said, rolling his eyes upward. "Didn't we already go over this?"

"You may have Danny's emblem, you may have some semblance to his costume, and you may even have white hair, but you're certainly not Danny!" Jack declared. "Our Danny would never do something like this!"

"Didn't I already tell you?" Phantom had an ugly look on his face. "I am your boy as what he could be ten years from now. No," he corrected himself. "What he _will_ be. He can't escape his destiny."

"Even if what you're saying is true," Maddie jumped in, her own ecto-gun at the ready, "Danny would never turn into you!" She had her feet spread out and was standing right next to her huge husband.

"Classic denial symptoms," Phantom said in a bored tone. "You refuse to acknowledge what sits right before your noses. Come _on_." He straightened himself out a bit more and glared at the two defiant hunters. "Danny _Fenton_? Danny _Phantom_? Didn't you ever notice the similarities? You two call yourselves the best ghost hunters on the planet and you couldn't even figure that your own _son_ was half-ghost?"

"I admit we've made some mistakes," Jack said, looking down for a moment before looking back up to the ghost, "and we didn't figure out that Danny was half-ghost but we _do_ know our son! You can't shake that belief!"

"How much has your son actually told you?" Phantom asked. A sneer curled his lips as he saw Maddie look down for a moment. "I see. He still doesn't tell you anything, does he?"

"He tells us loads of things!" Jack said defiantly, giving Maddie a nudge that nearly made her fall over.

"Like what?" Phantom raised an eyebrow.

"Like, uh…" Jack searched for his words before bursting out, "He tells us about the little blue ghost who controls boxes!"

" _That_ pathetic shrimp of a ghost?" Phantom couldn't refrain himself from a dark laugh that sent shivers down the two ghost hunter's spines. "Oh please. He hasn't told you _anything_. And how do I know this? Because I _am_ him. But enough talk." He then turned his face into a scowl. "It's time to end this."

"That's right, spook!" Jack said. He jumped straight towards the ghost. Maddie, however, held back slightly, Phantom's words running through her head.

' _He's **right**._ ' Maddie sprang into action and got some shots in as Jack gave her some openings. ' _Danny doesn't really let us in on the ghost hunting, even though we know he's Phantom now. But why? He knows that we trust him, right?_ ' Maddie ducked and let a stray shot fly over her head. ' _Or is it that he doesn't want us to worry? But doesn't he know that we worry anyway? How can we make him see that? Or maybe…_ ' Maddie realized something. '… _maybe he doesn't want **us** to get hurt._ ' As if to prove her point, she narrowly missed being brained by an ectoplasmic ray from Phantom.

"Still holding up against me?" Phantom flew backwards from the two ghost hunters and let ectoplasmic energy envelop his right fist. "I'll soon change that." He brought his fist down to the ground with a resounding crash and the whole street lifted up, developing cracks and rifts. Several pipelines that had been under the street burst open and let out their contents into the air, which wasn't exactly pleasant.

Maddie and Jack had to get up from their offensive positions and struggle to find a firm foothold as the concrete below their feet heaved dangerously.

While the two Fentons were occupied with trying to stay on their feet, Phantom had lifted up a few feet in the air and smirked evilly. His fingers started to glow green and he brought both his arms up in an X. He then uncrossed them, flinging them to his side as he unleashed a green X that flew towards both ghost hunters.

It grew bigger as it traveled further away from Phantom and seemed to be on fire with ectoplasmic energy.

Both Maddie and Jack barely had any time to react before they were struck by the X, sending them flying backwards into another building. The impact sent the building reeling and it slowly collapsed inwards.

Phantom stood outside of it, a grin on his face. He watched with satisfaction as the building fell down around the two ghost hunters. As the dust settled down, he took steps towards it, his cape billowing behind him as a stiff wind blew up.

"Pity I can't just leave you here," Phantom said. "I need you alive." He turned intangible and dove into the rubble to emerge a few minutes later with two unconscious ghost hunters in his hands. "Let's just see what my younger self will do now."

He unceremoniously dropped Maddie on the ground and raised a cloud of dust before lifting Jack up effortlessly and plucking the Fenton Phones off his ears. He then dropped Jack, too, and formed a small portal to the Ghost Zone. He used one to kick the two into the Ghost Zone before the portal closed and gazed upon his prize.

"Well, well." He grinned as he brought one of them up to his ear. "Time for it to end. The finale begins…now." He switched the Phone on and spoke.

* * *

Danny was flying over Casper High and had alighted in the football stadium of the school grounds. He gave the area a clean sweep through before taking off once more.

"It's late," he said matter-of-factly. He gazed up at the dimming sky and could already make out various stars. "I hope everyone's all right." He unconsciously touched the Fenton Phones in his ears. "I haven't heard anything for a while."

Danny was just about to take a right to patrol more of Amity Park before a loud rumbling below him shook his senses. The ghost boy immediately whirled around and widened his eyes as he saw a plume of smoke, or dust, rise into the sky. He immediately zoomed towards it at top speed, his electric green eyes never wavering from the sight.

He nearly fell out of the sky when someone spoke into the Fenton Phones in his ears.

" _Phantom 1 here._ "

His breathing quickened as he recognized that voice.

" _I know you can hear me._ "

No way. _No way_. How could he have gotten past them all?

" _What's your answer, Danny?_ "

"What do you want?" was the first thing that sprang to Danny's lips. He mentally smacked himself for the stupid comeback.

" _What do I want?_ " A chilling laugh came over the intercom. " _Why nothing. The question is, what do **you** want? I have something you might be very interested in._ "

"What did you do to them?" Danny demanded into the Fenton Phones. He kept flying through the air, hoping to reach Phantom before he could do anything else.

" _Quick on the uptake, aren't you?_ " He could almost see the grin on his future self's face. " _Nothing. As of yet._ " The last bit made Danny catch his breath.

"If you've done anything to them, I swear I'll—" Danny broke off, unable to find anything to do that would actually hurt his older self. Mentally, a wicked ghostly wail crossed his mind.

" _Do what?_ " The voice was cold. " _Cry into a hankie? There's not much you can do. Your time is up, Danny. It's been up for ten years._ "

Danny remembered that Phantom had said the exact same thing in their last battle. The only difference was that, this time, there weren't five different Phantoms waiting to gang up on him and beat him to a pulp. He gritted his teeth, trying to find a good comeback. He eventually settled on one.

"I swear," he said in a low voice, "if you do _anything_ to them, I'm going to make you regret it."

" _I'd like to see you try,_ " Phantom replied. " _Happy hunting._ " Danny could see the smirk that would most likely be covering his older self's face and tried to speed up.

"You're not going anywhere," Danny snapped into the Phones.

An evil laugh was heard before Danny heard the sound of an ecto-blast being fired up. After that, he couldn't hear anything and presumed that Phantom had probably destroyed the Fenton Phones he had been using. He poured on the speed, the wind whipping his snowy white hair back as he tried to reach his destination.

In less than half a minute, he had arrived to the site of the dust cloud and landed so quickly it would have made one sick to see the blur of black and white. He snapped his head around, trying to find the other ghost.

His eyes eventually settled on several buildings that were in complete rubble. He could see cracks in the street and several black marks on various walls of the surrounding structures and knew that someone had fought here. He caught sight of the Fenton Family Ghost Assault Vehicle and knew that that "someone" had most likely been his parents.

' _Who else has been taken?_ ' Danny touched the Fenton Phones on his ears and his eyes blazed. He whispered to nothing, "You better watch out. I'm not giving up this hunt yet." His green eyes searched the blackening sky. "Even if I have to scour the Ghost Zone, I'm not going to let you get away with this." His aura flared white. " _I promise._ "


	14. The Beginning of the End

Danny Phantom stood before the Fenton Ghost Portal, his electric green eyes never wavering from the swirly green patterns that were spiraling around on the surface. He had a determined look on his face and his mouth was set in a grim line. His brow was furrowed and he seemed to be in thought about something.

Deciding on something, the ghost boy took off and dove into the portal, finding himself in the green surroundings of the Ghost Zone. He looked around at the empty landscape before taking off to his destination. His legs fused into a ghostly tail and his white hair whipped back as he pushed onwards.

' _I hate to get them involved,_ ' he thought, ' _but I need to know if they saw something._ '

Danny looked around at his surroundings, hoping to see a ghost he could interrogate but saw nothing. There were only empty ledges of rocks and the endless purple doors floating around in the space. He sighed and pushed onwards, flying at his top speed to his destination.

He smiled grimly as he saw the familiar white landscape of Frostbite's realm and landed in a flurry of snow and ice. He looked around and saw nothing to signify that the friendly ghosts were around. Danny let out his breath anxiously and took off again, this time at a slower pace to be sure that they didn't attack him accidentally.

"Frostbite?" he called out as he flew through the snowy world. "Anybody? Hello?"

He soon arrived at where they had first crash-landed the Specter Speeder and met Frostbite. He went on by memory from there and was flying to the stadium where he had learned to control his ice powers when a sudden explosion to his right sent him flying in the opposite direction.

"Aaagh!" Danny landed with a loud _thump_ in the snow and skidded backwards before sliding to a halt. He rolled to his feet and took a defensive position as icicles showered him. The ghost boy put up an ecto-dome and held it up for a few moments before flashing to intangibility and flying through the storm. "Hey!" he yelled. "It's Phantom! _Danny_ Phantom!" he added upon remembering his future self.

"Stay back, fiend!" he heard a yeti shout. "Don't make me use this!" The halfa watched in disbelief as he saw the aforementioned yeti hold up a large ice cannon threateningly.

"You're wrong!" Danny dodged a few more ice beams thrown his way and tried to reason with the yetis before they made mincemeat out of him. "It's me, remember? Danny Phantom!" he added upon realizing that "me" could mean a dozen different ghosts and none of them friendly. He stayed intangible as more attacks were thrown his way and looked around desperately, hoping to see Frostbite. "Where's Frostbite?" He thought for a moment before blurting out, "Parlay! No wait. I mean parley! I'd like to talk to your leader!"

"Why would a fiend like you need to talk to our leader?" another yeti demanded.

"I thought I was over that when my secret was revealed," Danny muttered. In a louder voice: "I'd just like to talk! I don't want to fight!" He was struck down by a stray ice beam that a yeti had let loose and landed in the snow. "Ouch."

* * *

"Why are you guys staring at me like that?" Danny asked.

He was standing in a small ice cavern with several imposing yeti-like ghosts and had yet to meet Frostbite. So far, he had been regarded with scared looks and a few glares. This confused him to no ends as he last remembered the friendly ghosts being just that, friendly.

"Silence," one of them grumbled. "Our leader will be here shortly."

Danny sighed and shuffled his feet slightly. He was feeling edgy with the wait.

He perked up on hearing a familiar voice. "Who is this fiend that wanted to parley?"

"He claims he's Danny Phantom," he heard someone else say.

Then Frostbite came in. He looked around before letting his eyes rest on a visibly nervous Danny and broke into a smile.

"Great One!" Frostbite said cheerfully. Then he added in a slightly less cheerful tone, "Unless you really are the great one."

"Why wouldn't I be?" Danny asked, confused. "I just came to ask you guys something. Did something happen?"

"You can leave," Frostbite told the other yetis.

They left reluctantly and Frostbite and Danny stood alone in the cavern.

"So," Danny began, "what happened?"

"There have been reports of a specter with your logo"—Frostbite looked at Danny's emblem—"flying around the Ghost Zone wrecking havoc."

"Since when?" Danny tried not to sound too nervous.

"Just recently," Frostbite answered. "Is there anything else you wish to know?"

"Uh, right." Danny scratched his neck, trying to find the words. "First off, I'm glad to see you're all right but I need to ask if you've seen anything. Besides the specter," he added.

"We have seen nothing out of the ordinary that doesn't concern the specter," Frostbite said, "Great One."

Danny bit his lip. "Have you seen my friends and family?"

"They were taken?"

"Sadly," Danny muttered. He sighed. "Well, thanks. I really don't want to drag you into this mess and now I just have to figure out where I can find that ghost."

"Do you know him?" Frostbite asked.

"Kinda," Danny said. "No, let me rephrase that. I know him. He's…just someone I've fought against before…and who I really hoped I wouldn't have to fight against again."

"You should know that our offer of help is always open to you, Great One," Frostbite offered. "I would be happy to assist you."

Danny shook his head. "Thanks but this is something I have to do by myself. I don't want you to get hurt trying to help me." He smiled. "Just knowing you're on my side helps."

"The offer still stands."

"Thanks again," Danny repeated. "But I have to go now. My friends and family are in danger right now and I still have to find them. If only there was a human tracker…" His feeble attempt at making a joke trailed away and he sighed once again. "Thanks, Frostbite."

"No problem, Gr—"

"Danny," Danny interrupted firmly. "You can call me Danny. That 'Great One' stuff is getting to be a bit formal."

In another few minutes, Danny had made his goodbyes to Frostbite and took off into the Ghost Zone. This time, he took off at a more leisurely pace to plan out his next move.

' _I don't think Clockwork can help,_ ' he figured. ' _If he let my future self out, it means that something bigger is going on. It's just like Tucker said. Either that or_ '—he looked apprehensive—' _my future self was completely unexpected. But he **is** the master of time. That shouldn't happen. What do I do?_ '

Danny flew by a ruined structure without realizing it before stopping abruptly and tracking back, staring at what he had just passed without noticing it.

It was Walker's prison. Or what remained of it. Only rocks, slabs of concrete, and the base of the prison remained from his future self's violent attack. He could now see why the warden had been so furious when he had encountered him in the news station. Heck, _he_ would have been furious if something like that had just happened to him out of the blue.

"Where can I find him?" the halfa muttered. " _How_ do I find him? He could be anywhere." He sighed. "Think, Fenton. _Think._ Where would you go if you were an evil, twisted, future version of yourself?"

 _"_ … _as you said, he's you. You should know your own weaknesses and strengths,"_ he recalled something that a ghost had said. _"It's my nature to get into the mind of my prey."_

He broke into a grin. ' _It's the same thing here. He's my prey **and** he's me. It should be easier than I thought._ ' A thoughtful expression crossed his face. ' _Now where would I go? What would I like to do if I wanted to make an entrance?_ ' Something struck him. "Of _course._ How could I have been so stupid?"

* * *

"How could I have been so stupid?"

Danny Phantom whizzed out of the green Fenton Ghost Portal and phased through the ceiling and out of the Fenton Works. He immediately took off again as soon as he had gotten his bearings.

"I like to make an entrance. According to Sam and Tucker anyway…" Danny grabbed the Fenton Finder from his belt and turned it on. "And my future self should also. Where would he go if he wanted me to find him? I am such an _idiot._ " Danny looked at the screen and smiled grimly. "Bingo."

He hooked it back on and increased his pace. Before he knew it, he had arrived at the Nasty Burger and landed. His green eyes darted around as he tried to note anything out of the ordinary. The restaurant was still intact and he couldn't see a boiler anywhere nearby. The lights were off and…the windows were glowing?

Danny frowned and approached it slowly. When he came up to the glass, he pressed his face to it and peered inside, not wanting to risk anything fancy. What he didn't expect were some numbers flashing before his eyes, counting down to zero. He barely had time to turn intangible before the whole restaurant exploded before his eyes.

Danny shielded his face from the debris and kept his intangibility. He dropped it once he deemed it safe enough and opened his eyes.

The first thing he noticed was that the boiler was still intact but his family and friends weren't there. The second thing he noticed was a figure standing on top of the boiler. He gritted his teeth as he recognized the cape, the fiery hair, and the smirk on his older self's face. He was grinning.

"Ironic, isn't it?" his older self asked, not moving from his spot. "You defeated me here…and we meet again."

"Unfortunately," Danny spat from his spot on the ground. "What's wrong? Did you lose your touch during your stay in the thermos? I can't believe you couldn't think of anything more imaginative."

"Could you?" The older ghost was still smirking. "I wasn't aware that you could do so. Enlighten me."

"Where are they?" Danny demanded. "What did you do to them?"

"Who?" Phantom said. "I wasn't aware of doing anything."

"My _friends!_ My _family!_ Or didn't you notice that they're gone? And because of you!"

"I haven't the faintest idea what you're talking about," Phantom said.

"Oh yeah?" Danny snapped. "What's up with the 'happy hunting' comment?"

"Fine then." Phantom looked bored. "You caught me. Is there anything you're going to do about it?"

"Yeah," Danny said. "You're going to regret messing with them…and by extension _me_!"

Without saying another word, he lit up an ecto-beam and shot it at Phantom. Phantom dodged it by leaning to the side and fired his own in rapid succession. Danny barely managed to dodge but it still grazed his shoulder. He ignored the slight pain and flew straight up to the other ghost, his hands blazing with green energy.

"Pitiful," Phantom said. He grabbed both of Danny's glowing fists with his own and swung the halfa around. Danny was sent flying and crashed into a building, creating a decent sized dent. "What are you going to do? I already know all your tricks."

"Says who?" Danny retorted, pushing himself out of the hole he had made. He remained on the wall, glaring at Phantom.

"I _am_ you, remember?" Phantom reminded him. "You can't surprise me anymore."

"You'll be surprised!" Danny declared. He then realized what he had just said. "Ugh. What a play on words."

He inconspicuously split himself into two, the duplicate invisible. The duplicate remained behind while the original Danny shot over to engage his older self. He shot several ecto-disks and kept Phantom busy while his duplicate snuck around to get the older ghost from behind.

Phantom dodged all of the ecto-disks that Danny had fired and shot back a few of his own. Danny countered with a few ecto-beams and while countered ecto-disks were exploding, kept on a barrage of his own attacks. He narrowed the distance between them with each attack.

"Pathetic." Phantom put up an ecto-dome to shield against a few close-range attacks and then immediately countered with a strong ectoplasmic blast to Danny's chest. "Is this really the best you can do?"

Danny was pushed back a couple of feet but stopped, his chest smoking slightly. He looked up, his green eyes sparkling.

"No." Danny grinned.

Danny's duplicate chose this time to become visible, letting loose an ecto-beam to Phantom's back. The copy then grabbed Phantom's cape before the other ghost could react and swung the ghost around in several circles before letting him go.

Phantom flew through the air and barely managed to stop his flight when the original Danny was there due to his teleportation and attacked him with another ectoplasmic burst. This time, it came from both his hands so it packed a lot more punch. Phantom was pushed down to ground level and a small dust cloud rose up.

"Can't handle the heat?" Danny taunted. He was watching carefully a safe distance away from the crash site.

Phantom wiped away the smoke with his hand. He wasn't grinning anymore.

"I see you finally managed duplication," he said.

"Surprised you?" the duplicate asked.

"Hardly." Phantom looked up, a slightly grim look on his face. "Especially not when I can do _this_." He split himself into four.

"Oh crud," Danny muttered.

"Remind you of old times?" Three of the Phantoms flew straight up while the fourth remained behind.

"Yeah." Danny appeared defiant. "It reminds me of when I defeated you!"

That being said, he barely had time to dodge the blasts the Phantoms threw at him. He evaded them expertly, using the new skills he had gained from training with his parents. He turned intangible to avoid a large fiery blast tossed at him from behind and twisted around to counter with his own. He never saw the fourth and original Phantom come up from behind.

The attack that came was almost completely unexpected. He had felt the heat come but didn't know from where. His question was answered when he was enveloped by a powerful beam from behind.

"Aaaaargh!" Danny screamed. His duplicate dissipated and returned to him.

"Perhaps you'll learn not to play with fire," Phantom said, keeping up the onslaught. He swung down his hands and the energy streaming from his hands to the fire that covered Danny swung down, too. Danny crashed into the street and raised several mailboxes off their roosts.

The fire fading, Danny managed to get to his knees, panting. His whole body was burning and the crash into the street hadn't helped matters either.

He felt someone land before him with a small rush of air. Danny lifted his gaze up a little to look at his future self's boots. Slowly, as to not draw attention, his hand crept towards his belt.

"Pitiful," Phantom said once again. "What makes you think you can beat me again?"

"I know I can," Danny said. He put a knee under him but still had a hand on his belt.

"Don't tell me it has to do with those ridiculous morals of yours," Phantom said, looking down at his younger self with disdain.

"I _promised._ " Danny gave Phantom a sharp look with his electric green eyes. His face was grazed slightly from the impact with the street but his eyes held a defiance that couldn't be matched. "And I don't break promises."

"Only children believe in promises," Phantom said. "They are so easily broken."

"To you maybe," Danny said, "but that's because you never tried."

"But doesn't that mean that _you_ never tried?" Phantom pointed out. His mouth curled into another sneer. "You can't escape from the facts, Danny. When are you going to learn?"

Danny was quiet for a moment.

"That may be true," he said in a low voice, "but even if you _are_ me, I _won't_ turn into you." He pushed himself off the ground in a second, startling Phantom. "When are _you_ going to learn?"

He had in his hand the Specter Power Eliminator. It was switched to the "on" position and the prongs were crackling with electricity. Phantom had no time to react before Danny hit him with the new, untested invention.

What followed was very similar to a Plasmius Maximus. Phantom screamed as Danny hit him with the invention, his snake-like tongue out of his mouth. Danny was safe from the effects as his parents had at least thought of the person using the device on the other end. He dropped the attack in another second and jumped backwards, not wanting to be in close range with his older self in a mad mood.

Phantom bent over shortly as the effects of the shock still coursed through his body. He managed to push it out of his system and glared at Danny. He put up a hand and tried firing an ectoplasmic beam. Nothing happened.

"What did you do?" Phantom demanded.

"Well, I'd tell you but I'd rather not," Danny said loftily. "Who knows?" ' _I hope it lasts, I hope it lasts, I hope it lasts._ '

"You're going to regret that," Phantom said threateningly. His ghostly aura was gone but his hair still flickered.

" 'Says who?' " Danny quoted his older self. One hand was held out in a warning and the other still had the Specter Power Eliminator. It was now off as Danny wasn't willing to risk being electrocuted with it himself.

"Touché," Phantom remarked. If he could have, his hands would've been glowing with anger. As it was, he merely looked like a bully. A bully with fiery hair but a bully nonetheless. His eyes sought the device in Danny's hand and he smiled. "Taking a leaf from Vlad's book, are we?"

"Maybe," Danny said cautiously. He'd forgotten that the Plasmius Maximus had been introduced to him before the whole fiasco with his future self.

"Are you so desperate that you'd stoop to his level?" Phantom asked.

Danny frowned. He really didn't know that Vlad had been banished to outer space. It was something to be thankful for at any rate. On the other hand, he didn't want to know how it would affect Phantom's plans.

"No matter," Phantom went on, not noticing Danny's slightly thoughtful look. "Soon you'll only be desperate enough to turn into me."

"I already said _I'm never going to turn into you_!" Danny snapped the invention back on his belt and shot towards Phantom.

His hands were glowing and it was with relative ease that he managed to whack Phantom to the other end of the street. He was just about to follow it up with an ectoplasmic attack when he stopped, eyes widening. The ghostly aura to Phantom was already returning much to his dismay. It was only a matter of time until Phantom would discover that he had access to his ghost powers once again.

"Where are they?" Danny decided to try his hand at something else while Phantom was still unaware of his new status. "Answer me!"

"Didn't I already tell you that you'll have to hunt for them yourself?" Phantom got out of the rubble he had been thrown into. "It's only a matter of time before what I did takes effect."

Danny just barely managed to avoid throwing a ghostly wail at him. "What did you do?"

"That's for me to know and for you to find out," Phantom said. He smirked. "What do you know." He vanished from Danny's sight. A voice spoke next to Danny's ear, "My powers are back."

Danny had no time to react before a hot burning feeling fired up by his back. The next thing he knew was that he was flying across the street and landed in a shop full of musical instruments.

' _Why didn't I just suck him up in the thermos?_ ' Danny untangled himself from some guitar strings. ' _Oh right. I had to find out where my friends and family are._ '

Danny had just picked himself up from the mess when another attack from Phantom blew him off his feet. Literally.

A horrible sound filled his ears and it was all he could do to stop himself from falling to his knees. His other self was using the ghostly wail. He could feel the earth under him shaking and knew the shop was about to collapse. The only problem was that the ghostly wail was interfering with his concentration to turn intangible.

With no other options, Danny let himself be pushed back further by the ghostly wail. When he reached the back of the shop, he managed to concentrate enough to push through the wall. With the sound somewhat muffled but not much, he flew through the ceiling and out of the shop.

Danny had just phased out of the building when something made contact with his back. He felt a burning sensation enter his body and cried out in pain. Without wanting to, he felt himself transform back into a human and fell.

Danny Fenton felt something grab his leg and was held upside down, still tingling from the electricity that had coursed through him.

His eyes widened when he saw two Phantoms before him. The second one merged into the first that was holding him. He couldn't stop a small gasp of surprise when he saw what Phantom was holding in his other hand: the Specter Power Eliminator.

"When did you—?"

"You should really pay more attention when fighting," Phantom said, grinning. "Otherwise I might not have been able to get my hands on this little thing."

Danny flashed back to when he had heard Phantom speak to him invisibly and cursed silently. Phantom had nipped it from him then.

"What are you going to do? Drop me?" Danny asked. "What happens to you then?"

"I wasn't planning on dropping you." Phantom was grinning rather nastily. "I was planning on _throwing_ you."

Danny barely had time to react when Phantom let go of his leg and threw him. He supposed it was fortunate for him that Phantom hadn't been very high. He was only several feet above the nearest roof and when the malevolent ghost threw him, Danny didn't have far to fly before landing.

"Nngh." Danny pushed himself up on his elbows, blinking the stars out of his eyes. His head was hurting him where it had made contact with the concrete but aside from a few other scrapes and bruises, he wasn't hurt much.

"What are you going to do?" Phantom asked, still grinning.

Danny shot him a defiant glare and reached for his belt. He rolled over backwards and stood up, holding an ecto-gun in his hands.

"I can do a lot," he replied, the barrel of his weapon glowing green as it fired up. In another second, he had fired his ecto-gun.

Phantom let the ecto-blast fly through a hole in his chest before diving in. Danny jumped backwards and dodged a green fist from Phantom and retaliated with another blast from his ecto-gun. It missed and Phantom was left with enough time to phase through the roof of the building the two were fighting on.

"Crud," Danny muttered, keeping his ecto-gun at the ready. He quickly grabbed the Fenton Finder from his waist and flicked it on.

"There is a ghost nearby," it intoned.

" _Where?_ " Danny waited impatiently for it to tell him.

"Move two feet down. You would have to be an idiot to not notice the ghost two feet below you."

"What?" Danny's eyes widened and he just managed to spring forwards when Phantom burst out of the asphalt at his feet, sending rubble flying. The ground beneath Danny's feet shifted with the force and it knocked him off balance, leaving him susceptible to Phantom's attack.

And attack Phantom did. The ghost whacked the ecto-gun out of Danny's hand and punched him in the chest, winding him shortly. Danny was barely on his feet after the punch when Phantom grabbed his shirt and threw him into the air once more. This time, Danny was headed to the ground.

' _Breathe!_ ' Danny gasped for some air before twisting over to see the rapidly oncoming ground. Danny fumbled at his belt and managed to grab the mini Fenton Bazooka. He was going to fire it at the ground to soften his landing when his head snapped back as he got whiplash from his sudden stopping in the air.

"Can't have you die now, can we?" Phantom had stopped his near fatal plunge.

"Right," Danny managed to say through the pain his neck was giving him. "Because you're so _macho_ that you have to take my friends and family hostage to ensure that I turn into you."

Phantom's eyes narrowed. "Don't push me, Danny."

"Why?" Danny persisted fearlessly. "Are you afraid you'll snap and kill me? Oh right. I forgot. You can't because then you'll die. Kind of defeats the point, doesn't it?"

"If I'm still here, doesn't that mean nothing happens?" Phantom retorted. The two were nose to nose. "It means you don't die. It means you still turn into me." He grinned then. "It means that everyone else dies."

"I won't let you," Danny snapped. He tried to reach for his ghost powers but couldn't. The Specter Power Eliminator was still working. ' _Just great. The one time I don't need it to work it actually works. The world sure hates me,_ ' he thought bitterly.

"How are you going to stop me? You have no idea where they are," Phantom said.

"Where would you keep them?" Danny asked. He looked down to see that he was only about five feet off the ground. If he landed lightly, he would survive. If he didn't…his ankles would probably be badly sprained or broken. It was a risk he had to take. He continued, tightening his grip on his weapon, "Of course you won't answer. But that doesn't matter. If you're me and I'm you, you should know that I'll find out sooner or later." He smiled. "Right? Just like you'll know that I'll do _this!_ "

He kicked Phantom away from him and fell the remaining five feet. He hadn't anticipated the fact that kicking Phantom away would push him slightly over on his back. He felt something snap slightly in the elbow he landed on and knew he probably had fractured the bone.

Danny gritted his teeth through the pain and rolled over to his left side, which he hadn't landed on. He got to his feet and took the Fenton Bazooka in his left hand as his right arm gave off dull throbs of pain.

"Still as obstinate as ever, aren't you?" Phantom was flying above him, his right fist glowing.

"Yes. I am." Danny held up the Fenton Bazooka in both hands, ignoring the pain his right arm was giving him.

"What are you going to do with that thing?" Phantom said. "You know it won't do a thing."

"It won't hurt you." Danny tightened the trigger. "But it'll _hit_ you!"

Danny shot the Fenton Bazooka at the same time as his older self shot the ectoplasmic blast he had been building up. Danny stepped back slightly but the ecto-blast still hit the ground at his feet, blowing the concrete to rubble. A particularly large slab of concrete broke off from the street and hit Danny in the chest, knocking him backwards and into a building.

Despite the growing darkness in his eyes, Danny was able to see that his shot had hit the mark, drawing Phantom into a portal into the Ghost Zone. His last thought before losing consciousness was,

' _Great. He's going to come back._ '


	15. The Middle of the End

' _Ugh. Where am I?_ ' Danny was slowly regaining consciousness. His chest hurt terribly, though. ' _What happened?_ ' The memories of the fight started to come back. ' _Oh crud!_ '

Danny snapped out of whatever daze he had been in and tried to spring to his feet. He failed miserably. He found he was largely impended by a slab of concrete lying on his chest. The halfa was mildly surprised that it hadn't restricted his ability to breathe.

"Slow and easy." Danny breathed out slowly to be sure that his lungs were still in working order and then closed his eyes to run a mental check of all his organs and limbs. Taking a note of his right elbow, which was still hurting him, he found that nothing else was too severely injured. "Good. Nothing serious. Now let's see if my powers are back." He turned intangible and phased through the concrete, wincing as he did so. Clutching his chest, he sat up cautiously. "Okay. Not as good as I thought."

Ruefully, he surveyed the damage caused by the fight. Several buildings had large scorch marks and one even had a large hole in the side from where he had crashed into it. The street wasn't in any better shape as cracks spread out like a web across the black concrete and several chunks were lying several feet from where they were actually supposed to be. But the good thing was that he couldn't see his future self anywhere.

"Well, that's one thing come out of this mess. I've bought myself some time." Danny's gaze hardened. "Unfortunately, I can't say the same for the others. _Where_ could he have put them?"

He took stock of the weapons on his belt in his human form. He still had the Fenton Electrifier, the Fenton Toaster, the Fenton Spatula, a Specter Deflector, a thermos, the mini Ghost Gauntlets, the Fenton Finder he had somehow managed not to drop, a mini Fenton Foamer, and a few others that hadn't been lost. Taking note of his surroundings to try and find the ones he had dropped during the skirmish, Danny transformed and took to the air but immediately wobbled, nearly falling.

"Easy," Danny muttered, wincing as muscles he hadn't been using before suddenly screamed out in protest. "As Sam and Tucker would say, I have to be fit to fight otherwise I won't be going anywhere. But I also can't stay immobile for two days straight trying to recover my strength. They're all counting on me." He then smiled wryly and shook his head. "First sign of madness: talking to oneself."

Taking to the air again, but this time more cautiously, Danny performed a quick sweep through of the area to find his weapons. Finding the ecto-gun Phantom had knocked out of his hands when his powers had been shorted out, the half-ghost searched fruitlessly for the Fenton Bazooka he had dropped.

"Well, I do have another," he admitted, stopping to rest on a rooftop. "And at least I didn't lose the Fenton Thermos." He fingered the black and white one resting at his waist. It was hooked right next to the original thermos. "But where did the Specter Power Eliminator get to? The last time I checked, he was holding it…" Danny searched his memory. "He either dropped it trying to get me or he still has it on him. Knowing my rotten luck, it's most likely the latter."

Danny looked over Amity Park, pondering what his next move should be. The greenish-blue dome still crackled over the town and the desolate surroundings did little to improve his mood. On the other hand, nothing was there to interrupt his thoughts.

The last time he had seen him, the Fenton Bazooka had shot Phantom straight to the Ghost Zone. The question was _where_. Danny frowned slightly, running over his options. He could wait in the human world and see if Phantom came to get him. He could also go to the Ghost Zone and hope that he would run into Phantom there. The problem with the latter was that he would probably run into a ghost that hadn't left the place…

"Wait here? Go into the Ghost Zone? Entice him?" Danny was muttering. "Nah. What do I entice him with? The Ghost Zone isn't a good idea either as who knows what I'll run into there. But that's also where I can find the others. Hopefully." He groaned slightly, placing a hand over his right elbow, which was already almost healed. "The best option – but not the most likeable – is staying here. But there's the possibility he won't show up. Or he _might_ show up and I don't know where." He scowled darkly. "Or he could just show up behind me and start laughing his head off."

"Which I think," a smooth voice said from behind him, "is a much better option."

Danny froze, his mouth going dry. ' _Talk about irony._ '

"Thinking really doesn't suit you."

"In that case, it doesn't suit you either," Danny said evenly, gathering up his emotions. "What's wrong?" he continued, trying to appear nonchalant even though his heart was pounding. "Having qualms about beating me up?"

"No. How about _you_ having qualms about beating _me_ up?"

Danny turned around and stared steadfastly at his evil future self. Phantom was standing on the rooftop, a smirk on his face. Emotions flickered through his mind but first and foremost, Danny knew he had to stay calm. Losing his cool and succumbing to his anger wouldn't do anything for his friends and family. Or for him. For the sake of everyone else, he had to stay calm.

Did he hate him? Yes. He did. He hated seeing himself just stand there. He hated seeing what he could be. He hated knowing that he had ever considered becoming that twisted thing sitting in front of him. Or standing if you wanted to be literal.

Danny assessed his emotions and stored them away, trying to appear impassive. He stood up, keeping a neutral look on his face. Only the flickering green of his eyes betrayed the torrent of emotions rushing in him. His hands curled into fists and two balls of ectoplasm started forming, enveloping his white gloves until he had two beams ready to fire.

"You're going to pay," Danny said simply.

"I'd like to see you try, Danny," Phantom retorted, holding up a glowing hand in turn.

"With pleasure." Danny launched himself at Phantom, his legs merging to form a ghostly tail. Unfortunately for him, Phantom dodged the attack and retaliated by blasting him in the back with a ghost ray before he could turn around.

Back smoking slightly, Danny flipped himself upside down in the air while still flying from the counterattack and put his hands together to form a powerful ecto-blast. He released it, the force of the attack sending him flying backwards even further. Danny turned intangible as he met a building and came out at the other end, zooming up to see the results of his attack.

Phantom hadn't expected such a quick lash out by his younger self and the attack by Danny had hit him head on. His emblem was smoking slightly and the malevolent ghost was no longer smirking. He gritted his teeth and met Danny headlong in the air, fists already glowing with ecto-beams.

Danny barely managed to maneuver out of the way and did a front flip right over Phantom. He released his tuck mid-flip and, still spiraling head over heels, kicked Phantom in the back with his left heel, propelling him away from the young half-ghost. Danny spun around and quickly released a ghost ray in Phantom's direction. Again, not having expected it, it nailed Phantom and sent him crashing into the street.

"What do you think?" Danny floated over the small dust cloud. "That other fight was just a warm-up."

As the dust cleared, Danny saw Phantom get up slowly on one knee and look up at him, glaring. His cape was spread out around him and was slightly scorched from the attack Danny had thrown at him.

"I see you've grown," Phantom remarked. "This means I'll have to up it a level."

" 'Up it a level'?" Danny repeated, wary. His hand unconsciously strayed to the Fenton Electrifier. "You wouldn't dare."

"Oh I would," Phantom said, one hand hidden in the folds of his cape. "Hasn't anyone ever told you that fights aren't always fair?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means," Phantom said, his face hiding in the shadows for a moment as he lowered it, "that I can do _this!_ " Before Danny could react, Phantom released an ecto-blast he had been building up from the shelters of his cape. It hit Danny straight in the chest and sent him flying away.

"Aaaargh!" Danny didn't stop flying until he hit something. And that something turned out to be his famous statue of him holding up the world. He crashed straight into the Americas depicted on the small stone globe and created a decent sized dent. Groaning slightly, Danny pushed himself off the stone and rubbed the back of his head. He opened his eyes blearily but immediately widened them upon seeing a familiar figure fire a green stream of something he was sure would hurt if it hit him. Danny immediately pushed himself through the stone and emerged on the other side, shielding his face as the attack from Phantom destroyed the miniature globe and sent debris sailing towards him.

"Sickening, isn't it?" Danny dropped his intangibility and cleared his arms to see Phantom floating before him. "A statue of you?"

"It's not the only one," Danny muttered, letting his hair shield his face so Phantom couldn't see his lips moving.

"But it is the _perfect_ thing to commemorate the occasion of Danny Phantom destroying the world." Phantom cast an amused glance at the heroic stone Danny holding up the remnants of the world. "What did you do anyway to gain that devotion?"

"Why do _you_ want to know?" Danny said scornfully, lifting up his face to reveal his flaring eyes. "I thought you didn't want anything to do with your past!"

"Oh you're right about that." Phantom grinned. "It's just strikingly amusing. Seeing Danny Phantom, the hated ghost boy, turn into a hero. And by what? Surely you holding up the world signifies that it was important."

Danny thought over what he should reveal and finally, he said, "Things change. What? Did you think the world held still while you were in that thermos?" He grinned. "Was it cramped?"

Phantom immediately scowled. "Say that again and I won't hesitate to pummel you mercilessly."

"I notice you didn't say 'rip you from limb to limb'," Danny said dryly. "Of course. The big bad bully is scared of hurting himself."

"And you? Are you any better?" Phantom asked. "A _hero_. How can they call you a hero if you don't meet the qualifications?"

"Oh and what are you? The epitome of a hero?" Danny hid his hand behind his back, slowly building up an attack. "Funny. I don't see destroying the world the mark of a hero."

"Do they know about me?" Phantom smirked as Danny looked away briefly before meeting his future self's red eyes again. "Of course not. You're ashamed, aren't you?"

"Ashamed of what?" Danny tried to keep his face impassive.

"You're ashamed of turning into me," Phantom guessed correctly. "You're ashamed of revealing to everyone that you turn into me. Imagine, the great Danny Phantom, being afraid of a mere ghost. Except that I'm _not_ a mere ghost. I'm you."

"You really like pushing that point, don't you?" Danny said. He tried not to show that Phantom had been spot-on in his assumptions but thought he was failing miserably. "You don't get that I'll never turn into you, do you? You keep thinking on and on that I'll turn into you and it's always the same. When are you going to learn about human nature?"

"Humans are weak," Phantom stated simply. "I gave up my human half long ago. Just like _you're_ going to be wishing for once I'm through with you."

"Oh really?" Danny said thoughtfully. "Isn't it going to be the other way round?" His hand was now glowing brilliantly.

Phantom raised an eyebrow. "How so?"

"Heads up!" Danny said loudly, releasing the blast he had been building up. Phantom couldn't react in time and the attack hit him square in the chest, sending him crashing into a nearby building. " _That's_ why!" he declared.

"Cute." Phantom wiped away the small cloud of dust he had raised. "You've got banter."

"But do you have the skills necessary?" Danny whirled around at a voice next to his ear. He caught a glimpse of a second Phantom before the duplicate punched him in the shoulder and sent him spiraling through the air.

Danny gritted his teeth and concentrated. Seconds later, blue energy crept out from his chest and spread around his body, solidifying to form ice. He quickly formed a small helmet to shield his head and left his eyes clear so he could see properly without the ice distorting his vision. The halfa spun around in the air and steadied his flight, glaring at Phantom.

Phantom raised an eyebrow. "Costume party?"

"Why do people always say that?" Danny's voice sounded distorted through the ice. He held out a hand and formed a sword. It immediately crystallized and gleamed brightly. "Like you said: 'Time to up it up a level.' "

"Gladly." Phantom spread out his arms and green energy started to leak at his fingertips. It spread out over his arms and over his whole body. In another couple of seconds, he was covered from head to foot with green fire. Danny could still his older self's features through the green energy but barely. The only discernible features were the eyes.

"When'd you learn that?" Danny asked, taking his sword back.

"Likewise," Phantom retorted, holding his arms out to the side and forming a halo of fire. "When my ecto-signature changed, my core changed, too."

Danny's eyes widened as he realized what Phantom was talking about. It was what Frostbite had said to him. His ghost sense was an extension of his ice powers, which was why it was cold. Phantom, on the other hand, had a red mist from his nose in place of a ghost sense. Normally red signified heat which meant that instead of a cold core, Phantom had a hot core. That explained the fire powers. But that _didn't_ explain why Phantom didn't use that during the previous fight.

Danny voiced his thought. "Why didn't you use it last time?"

Danny thought Phantom raised an eyebrow but couldn't be sure. "Did I have to?" The halo of fire disappeared but the fire around Phantom grew stronger. "Enough talking. We have a score to settle."

Wordlessly, Danny hefted his sword up in front of his face, letting Phantom's face glint off of the ice. His green eyes held a fiery determination in them and Danny knew he couldn't lose this fight. His friends, his _family._ They were all depending on him. And better yet. They believed in him.

Resolved, Danny said evenly, "You're on."

Both of them clashed in the next second. Danny was flying so fast he barely managed to duck the stream of fire Phantom sent his way. He parried by carving a hole in the fire enveloping Phantom. Danny drew back quickly as Phantom tossed a punch and concentrated on teleporting. He felt the familiar rush and instantly reappeared behind Phantom as the flash receded.

Phantom hadn't expected Danny's pierce to the back and the ghost boy managed to draw ectoplasm before Phantom turned intangible. He solidified when Danny was thrust off balance by the unexpected trick.

The older ghost whirled around and nailed Danny in the stomach with a round-house kick. The ice absorbed most of the blow but Danny still felt the impact.

"Too slow," Phantom said, punching Danny to the ground. He formed a fiery sword next. "What are you going to do?"

"I'm not going to lie around getting burned." Danny rolled out of the way as Phantom slammed into the ground next to him. Getting to his knees, Danny streamed ectoplasm through his sword and sliced Phantom. Or he would have if Phantom hadn't drawn back. He did finish his sweep through the air and watched with satisfaction as the ectoplasm left the tip of his sword and pierced Phantom's surprised face.

The impact sent the older ghost reeling back. Danny wasted no time and slashed the air from right to left, sending a blaze toward Phantom. It hit him again and the ghost was thrown further back into a building. Said building then collapsed into rubble.

' _Please let it be over,_ ' Danny prayed, panting. ' _I can't keep this up much longer._ '

Letting his guard down, he dropped his sword to the side. He watched the pile of rubble expectantly but saw nothing

Danny let out a breath of relief. ' _Maybe it is over._ '

His eyes widened as he felt rumbling beneath his feet. Looking down, he had no time to react when the ground burst open and he was thrown backwards. He hit a lamppost and felt the ice jar slightly. Grimacing, he saw a bruised Phantom glaring at him.

"You gonna kill me now?" Danny asked. "You wouldn't dare."

"How do you know what I would dare?" Phantom replied. "You won on a whim last time. It won't happen again."

"How do you know?" Danny pushed himself off the lamppost. "Clockwork could come again."

Much to his alarm, Phantom started to laugh. When he had stopped, an evil smirk adorned his face. "He can't affect me."

"What?" Danny's eyes widened.

"I have a time medallion." Phantom rooted around in his cloak before pulling out a familiar item with "CW" written on it.

"How'd you get that?" Danny demanded.

"Compliments of Clockwork leaving them unattended." Phantom hid it again. "Don't you love it when things go my way?"

"No," Danny grumbled.

"What are you going to do?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Danny's eyes hardened. "I'm going to fight." He fed power to his sword. "But I _do_ have to wonder, how am I supposed to turn into you without actually seeing them die?"

Phantom's smirk widened. "Do you actually have to see them? Just knowing you let them down is enough. The guilt will weigh you down and then—"

"—'you'll turn into me'," Danny recited. "You sound like a broken record. I guess that comes from Vlad."

"Don't mention that cheese head," Phantom said warningly.

"You're a – cheese head, did you say? – cheese head, too, then, considering you're also made up of _his_ ghost half," Danny said.

The next thing Phantom said caused Danny's breath to hitch in his throat. "Where is he?"

"Who? Um, Vlad?" Danny tried to seem nonchalant and was glad for the ice covering his face. "He's in Wisconsin. Where else would he be?"

"Then why do I see a dummy with 'kill Vlad' written all over it?" Phantom jabbed a thumb behind him. "And in the mayor's outfit?"

Danny looked over Phantom's shoulder and saw a Vlad dummy with knives sticking in it in a shop window. Silently, he did congratulate the people responsible for the idea but they had blown his cover. He made up, "They hate him?" He could've slapped himself then. ' _Way to go, Fenton. "They hate him?" Where'd you come up with **that**?_ '

"Where is he?" Phantom asked once again in a low voice.

Danny realized with alarm that they were treading dangerous grounds. Not being able to find anything to say, he stayed silent.

It was the worst mistake he could've made.

Phantom's blood red eyes widened slightly. "He's not here anymore, is he?"

' _Aw crud._ '

"Where is he?" Phantom's voice was menacing.

' _He is **this** close to figuring it out._ ' Danny swallowed and tried to speak. "He's—"

"Not here?" Phantom cut him off. He didn't say anything else but did lower his face so Danny couldn't see what he was doing. Then, he started laughing. His face became visible once more as he threw his head back and laughed.

' _This…is not good,_ ' Danny realized with growing horror. ' _He **knows.**_ '

Once Phantom had stopped, an evil grin was directed at Danny. "I'm surprised it slipped past me. It looks like I don't need you after all. But that doesn't mean I can't make your life a living hell."

' _Guess my advantage's bitten the dust._ ' His sword gleamed green. ' _I'll just have to put it all in here. He won't hesitate to kill me anymore._ '

"Any last words?" Both of Phantom's hands blazed with ectoplasmic fire.

"Don't underestimate me," Danny said, holding his sword flat. The blade leaked ectoplasm and it was glowing.

"Typical." Phantom vanished from Danny's sight in the next instant. The only warning of the attack Danny had was the rushing and the burning of the air to the right of him.

He immediately put up his sword and blocked a fiery punch from Phantom. He was so engrossed in blocking that particular punch he failed to notice Phantom's other hand coming up. It partly shattered the ice shielding his chest and Danny was barely on his feet when Phantom spun around and kicked him in the side. Danny was sent flying once more and hit the side of a building.

"You're going to regret messing with me," Phantom said, watching Danny struggle to his feet. "How could you ever hope to beat me?"

Danny hadn't been listening to Phantom's words. Instead, his mind was running over everything that had happened to create this monstrosity of a ghost before him. He _needed_ to win and he _wouldn't_ turn into Phantom. He just wouldn't. But secretly, he doubted his own resolve and determination as Phantom's words started to echo in his heads.

"You're wrong," Danny protested without knowing what he was saying.

"Wrong about what?" Phantom's hands started to glow green. "Oh. I _know._ You were thinking about turning into me, weren't you?"

Danny remained silent, Phantom's words echoing in his ears.

"It's hopeless resisting," Phantom said. "You're too weak."

"Weak how?" Danny managed to wrench his thoughts away from that horrible future and focused on the ghost in front of him.

"Your human emotions just drag you down." Phantom sneered.

' _Maybe…maybe he's right,_ ' Danny couldn't help but think. ' _Maybe I **am** weak. Maybe…I should just give up._ ' As these thoughts whirled through his head, his shoulders unconsciously slumped in defeat.

Seeing this, Phantom laughed cruelly. "That's right, Danny. Give in."

Just as Danny was about to do so, a voice drifted through his mind. He reached for it, trying to understand. _"_ _You have your heart. Your future self doesn't have that. He gave it up when he destroyed everything. That makes all the difference in the world._ _…you can use your heart – or your passion – against him. He lacks that drive you have. **You** strive to protect us. **He** doesn't."_

Danny's eyes widened briefly as what Sam had told him earlier made sense. A small blossom of hope also rekindled. His green eyes hardened in determination and the grip on his weapon tightened.

But Phantom saw nothing of that. "Perhaps I should let you see your loved ones' last moments," he went on.

Fortunately for Danny, he hadn't heard that. He was channeling his power to do one thing. And it wasn't for listening to evil ghosts monologue.

"Anything to say for yourself?" Phantom finished.

"Yeah," Danny said finally. He sprang to his feet. "How about you. Shut. _UUUUUP!_ " His cry turned into a ghostly wail.

Danny Phantom was striking back.


	16. The End

The ghostly wail hit a surprised Phantom head on. It also shattered Danny's ice armor, breaking it into a million pieces.

Phantom tried to stay rooted but failed, being thrown back several hundred feet. Danny cut his attack off and flew towards his enemy, his ice sword blazing. With Phantom still down, he sent an energy attack from his sword and quickly followed it with an ice beam.

The energy blade knocked Phantom down again and the ice beam froze him instantly afterwards. Danny switched the sword to his left hand and fired a ghost ray at the still frozen Phantom. On contact it exploded, causing Danny to shield his eyes out of reflex.

When the ice shards stopped coming, Danny dropped his sword only to raise it again to block the attack he felt coming. The impact shattered the ice sword and the half-ghost had his eyes tightly closed for protection. Therefore, he couldn't see the follow-up blast. He felt it coming but couldn't evade in time. It hit him in the chest and he was thrown back, landing heavily on his back in the street.

His chest still smoking, Danny managed to pick his head up, seeing Phantom about to launch a lethal attack. He quickly split in two; the deadly ghost ray hit the spot between the two Dannys where the original had been, leaving a decent sized crater.

Without wasting a second, one Danny teleported, leaving the other to occupy Phantom with ecto-disks. Unfortunately, he hadn't counted on Phantom duplicating himself as well. One put up an ecto-dome while the other caught the teleporting Danny just as he was about to attack. Phantom's hand blazed green, incinerating that Danny, leaving the original sitting in the street and glaring at them.

"How—" Danny started.

"I'm you, remember?" Phantom cut him off. The duplicate Phantom behind him was smirking. "Even if I don't need you anymore I'm still you. Therefore I can predict your every move. It's not that hard, Danny." The original grinned. "You're so predictable."

"Right and you're not," Danny retorted angrily.

"Ooh feisty." Phantom's grin widened. "Let's see if you can back that up."

Danny let out a gasp as he felt something burning against his back. Cursing his mistake of not paying attention, Danny turned intangible immediately. With shock, he watched as a stream of ectoplasm fired through him and burnt a hole in the building opposite him. Giving the second Phantom behind him no time to fire again, Danny slipped through the street and into the sewer system.

He cringed as the smell reached him. "Oh gross!"

He had no time to make further protests when the roof (or ground) above him started shaking, sending dust in his hair. His hair now a grayish-white, Danny sped off, dodging chunks of concrete and turning intangible for others.

"Stop running, little phantom." He could hear his older self's taunting tone.

Danny gritted his teeth and expertly maneuvered around a slab of concrete. He flipped over on his back and, still flying but backwards now, tried to find Phantom's tell-tale glow. Failing to do so, he was about to reach for the Fenton Finder when a familiar sound reached his ears.

He fumbled at his waist, nearly got beaned by some debris, and then turned intangible for safety.

"Is he crazy?" Danny exclaimed softly. "It's going to bring down the whole place!"

And still the powerful ghostly wail continued. Danny was sure Phantom wouldn't stop until he revealed himself. With no other choice, he flew straight up, trying to push the horrible sound of his mind and not succeeding.

In another few seconds, he reached daylight and phased completely through the street. His eyes widened on seeing the damage. Long, spider-web cracks stretched all over the place and the street was still shaking under Danny's feet. He had some trouble keeping his balance until he decided to forgo gravity and hovered a foot in the air.

He glared at a certain spot where the earth was vibrating the most, guessing that Phantom was there. His eyes and gloves started to glow an icy blue as his anger grew. Danny slammed his hands on the ground and fed ice to it, watching the concrete freeze over as the power gradually reached Phantom's relative location.

Once the concrete had glazed over completely, the shaking stopped and Phantom phased through a moment later, smirking. "Desperate measures, eh, Danny?" He didn't seem at all tired from the wail.

Danny had one elbow on his knee and was glaring at Phantom. "Do you have any idea what you just did?"

"Let's see," Phantom said in a mock thoughtful voice. "Other than just rooting you out…I would have to say no."

"You almost collapsed this whole place!" Danny shouted. "Two whole blocks! Collapsed!"

"So?" Phantom looked bored. "There's still the rest."

Danny took a deep breath and said in a calmer tone, "It looks like nothing I say will get through to you."

"What made you think you could?"

Danny remained silent, not having anything to say. Inwardly, he was trying to catch his breath. He was tiring faster than he would've thought. It looked like he hadn't recovered as well as he would've preferred.

"Nothing to say?" Green fire crept up Phantom's arms. "Then why don't we…wrap this up?"

Danny got to his feet slowly, ectoplasmic energy balls covering his own gloves. He lifted his eyes to meet Phantom's and shifted his feet to spread his balance like Maddie had instructed him.

"Allow me." Phantom sprung towards the half-ghost, fiery arms outstretched. At the last moment, instead of punching Danny, he rose up and fired.

Danny just managed to put up an ecto-shield to block the huge stream of fire. Unfortunately, the roaring made it impossible for him to hear anything or see anything beyond green. When he dropped it, he kept his hands up, expecting an attack at any moment. His breathing sounded loud to his own ears and he tried to soften it.

The attack came but from a completely unexpected spot. Instead of ecto-blasts or punches like he had expected, he was shocked. Literally.

Two hands phased out from the ground and wrapped around his ankles. A strong charge of electricity surged through Danny, causing him to cry out in pain.

"AAAARGH!" Two bluish-white rings formed and started to split as the charge continued. Danny gritted his teeth further and forced them down until they vanished.

The electric shock hadn't subsided when Phantom phased up and took Danny with him. Still electrocuting him, the evil ghost spun around several times before letting him fly.

"AAAARGH!" Danny screamed as he hurtled headlong into another building. He crashed into it from the side and bounced off slightly to land in an alley.

"Enjoying yourself, Danny?" Phantom smirked, watching the halfa roll onto his stomach painfully. "There's a lot more where that comes from."

"Joy," Danny groaned, trying to get to his knees. All his muscles were violently protesting the movement. ' _What do I do?_ '

"Maybe you should just give up," Phantom taunted him, reading his mind. "I might make it quick for you then."

"You should know…" Danny got to his knees "…that I don't give up. I _won't_ lose."

"Haven't you already lost?" Phantom said. "Your loved ones are no longer around. They're dead."

Danny's eyes blazed. "You're lying!"

"Am I?" Phantom continued grinning at the pain he was causing Danny. "Can you live knowing it was you who killed them? You who let them down?"

"It's not me," Danny insisted. "It's you."

"Is there any difference?"

"I won't turn into you!" Danny said again, still on his knees. "I promised them! I _know_ I won't turn into you. How much more proof do you need?"

"Just because I don't need you anymore to exist doesn't mean you're scot-free, Danny." Phantom landed in front of Danny. "You can turn evil." His smirk widened. "Wouldn't that be nice?"

Danny bit his lip, knowing that Phantom's words held some truth.

"And you know it's true," Phantom went on. "Deep inside, you're scared of me. You're scared of knowing what you could be. Knowing that one bad choice could be your downfall. Accept it."

"I have," Danny said hollowly. "I've accepted I won't turn into you."

"The way you continue to deny it like some child tells me otherwise," Phantom said smoothly. "Everyone has evil inside of them. Yours will just express itself."

Danny wanted to yell at him to shut up but had no energy for a wail. He was just barely retaining his ghost form.

Even though his rational mind was screaming at him to ignore Phantom's poisonous words, another part – the insecure part – was taking his words seriously. His breath came shorter and shorter as he tried to sort through all the feelings Phantom roused in him. He tried to file away his future self's negative words but they kept piercing his mind like arrows, making it hard to think.

' _Get a grip, Fenton,_ ' he told himself sternly. ' _Nothing he says is true._ '

' _But what if he is right?_ ' a smaller voice asked. ' _What if I do turn evil? Even after everything I've done? What if I…what if I fail them? What if he's right about my inner evil expressing itself?_ '

' _He's not right! I promised and I know I won't turn evil!_ '

' _What are promises in the face of destiny?_ '

Danny hesitated, not having anything to say back. ' _But – ah wait! Why am I having this argument with myself?_ ' He shook his head to clear it of the negative thoughts. ' _Get your head straight, Fenton. Whether he's right or not, they're counting on me and I can't let them down. I **won't**._ '

Phantom smirked, mistaking the glint in Danny's eyes for defeat. "Accepted it yet? Why don't I cement it for you then?"

Danny's head snapped up, alarm written all over his face at the malice in Phantom's tone. He had no time to react as a powerful ghost ray hit him and blasted him backwards into a wall at the end of the alley. Danny banged his head against the brick wall and slid down, black swimming at the edges of his vision. He couldn't look up without feeling dizzy and nauseous so he focused on the ground.

Something caught his eye to the right of him. He had to stare to be sure he had seen properly. He didn't trust his swimming vision.

"Still conscious?" Phantom's hands were blazing with energy and he seemed to be thoroughly enjoying himself. "Just as well. I want you to feel this."

It was the Specter Power Eliminator. It looked like Phantom had dropped it after all. Danny couldn't be sure from the ground but if the invention was lying there, they must've fought above these buildings earlier.

It was ironic. Where it had begun it would also end.

Danny moved his eyes from the Specter Power Eliminator to Phantom's booted feet. He took a shaky breath and blinked to try and clear his vision. His head was killing him.

He was about to plan out his next move when somebody grabbed his jumpsuit's collar and pushed him up against the wall. Wincing as his abused head endured further torment, Danny stared into Phantom's smirking face.

"Any last words?" Phantom asked, his hand already smoldering Danny's jumpsuit.

"It's not over 'til it's over?"

Before Phantom could comment, Danny summoned the last of his energy to his hand. Almost unconsciously, he opened it and flicked his fingers. On command, the Specter Power Eliminator turned green and flew into his hand.

"Wha—?" Phantom started.

Danny flicked the switch and jabbed the prongs into Phantom's chest, short-circuiting his powers.

"AAAAARGH!" Phantom dropped Danny in his agony, who managed to stand on his own power.

' _Come on. Work._ ' Danny's left hand glimmered with green light. He brought it up to Phantom's chest and fired, knocking the older ghost back into the open. He hooked the deactivated Specter Power Eliminator back to his belt and doggedly flew out of the alley himself.

Danny looked decidedly pale as he landed in front of his future self but still determined. He grabbed the Fenton Thermos 2.0 from his belt and uncapped it, pointing it towards Phantom and powering it up.

"Last chance," he said. "Where are my friends and family?" He hoped he sounded threatening enough. He was barely able to keep standing.

Phantom laughed, still looking vicious even without his ghostly glow. "That's for you to find out," he repeated, grinning evilly, "and for me to know."

"Where _are_ they?"

Phantom's grin widened. "Why should I tell you? You letting them down would really be the best thing. Imagine. All that guilt, sadness, and the betrayal of letting them down would just eat away at you."

Danny scowled. "Any last words?"

Phantom chuckled darkly. "You really think that a new paint job will stop me? I'll get out again. Count on it."

It was then that the halfa noticed something to Phantom's voice that he hadn't heard before. There was a certain edge to it. It wasn't anger, glee, or even the bored tone the ghost had taken sometimes. It was tiredness. Phantom was tired.

Danny ran that through his mind to let it sink in. It seemed like the fight had taken more out of Phantom than the malevolent ghost would've admitted.

Not saying anything to counteract Phantom's argument, Danny finished powering the thermos up and wordlessly activated it. The suctioning power immediately overpowered Phantom.

"You won't find them," Phantom warned Danny, pulling his last trick. The beam was already tugging at him. "The doubt and despair will turn you evil. It's only a matter of time."

"You think?" Danny said obstinately. "You're going down. And this time, you're not coming back."

Phantom still looked evil even though he was so close to defeat. "Don't count on it. You won't find them. And I'll be baaaack," were his last words as he was entirely sucked in.

Danny capped the thermos, smiling tiredly. "Not this time."

With his last remaining strength, Danny sealed the thermos, preventing Phantom from ever returning. The cap glowed green with the surge and then faded. It still looked greenish-white, showing it held a ghost.

With the danger now over, Danny stumbled, his transformation rings appearing. They split slowly, revealing a battered and very tired Danny Fenton where the ghost had been standing. He fell back, collapsing in a heap on the street, too tired to get up.

The thermos had been so slow in capturing Phantom because he had used the minimum amount of energy required to power it. More he couldn't spare.

Danny recalled a few of Phantom's words. _"Just because I don't need you anymore to exist doesn't mean you're scot-free, Danny._ _You can turn evil._

 _"And you know it's true._ _Deep inside, you're scared of me. You're scared of knowing what you could be. Knowing that one bad choice could be your downfall_."

The words struck a chord within Danny and he recalled someone else's words. _"Danny, you can't change the past. But you can change the future. Heck, you can change the present by choosing to do something different than what you were originally going to do. That's what I think your older self is made up of. Your bad choices._

 _"You have to stop worrying about turning into him because you said you wouldn't, right? As long as you have that drive, you won't turn into him. Ever_. _"_

"You're right, Jazz." Danny smiled, trying to stay conscious. "But…what if?" He tried to shake his head but failed miserably. It was hurting too much. He did, however, resolve to stop thinking about it.

"It's not over yet," Danny breathed softly, his every muscle aching. "My friends…Sam…my family…"

He groaned as the darkness that had been swimming around his vision since the crash in the alley set in.

His last conscious thought was that he had to rescue his loved ones.

* * *

It could have been several hours or a full day since he fell unconscious. To Danny, who was just waking up, it was all the same.

His vision returned gradually as he managed to open his eyes. The first thing he saw was a bluish-green sky and he idly wondered why the sky was that color. After all, wasn't it supposed to be blue?

Something was nagging at his mind and Danny frowned, trying to remember what it was. It came as the "sky" above him gave a flicker. With a jolt, Danny remembered everything that had happened. Phantom escaping, preparing for his arrival, Valerie being injured, his loved ones captured, and the subsequent battles with his future self.

Danny sat up abruptly but instantly clutched his sides in agony. None of his muscles liked him at the moment. Wincing with each movement, Danny slowly got to his feet. He placed his hands on his knees, panting with the effort.

"It's over," Danny said, smiling slightly. Then, he frowned. "But I still have to find the others. How long have I been out?"

He took a shaky step and wobbled, almost falling to his knees. Danny slowly made his way to the side of a building that was several feet away and placed a hand on it, making better progress.

"Where could he have put them?" Danny wondered. "He destroyed the Fenton Phones so I can't contact them. _Where_ are they?" He tightened his grip on the Fenton Thermos 2.0. "How can I reach them?"

He recalled Skulker's words again before closing his eyes. Two rings formed around his waist but almost instantly fizzled out of existence. His breathing became more labored as he continued to try and transform.

' _Come on, Fenton._ '

The rings appeared again before disappearing.

' _They're counting on you_.'

This time, the rings stayed and even split before hovering as if indecisive about disappearing or continuing.

"Come _on!_ " he grunted, pushing himself even further. His breathing became shorter as he persisted.

With agonizing slowness, the rings continued to travel over his body. Soon, it was the familiar figure of Danny Phantom standing there, panting.

He smiled tiredly in triumph before doubling over in pain. Danny tried to calm himself as the rings appeared once more, threatening to reverse his transformation.

"Easy," he gasped, forcing the rings away. "You can't do anything for them if you're incapacitated."

The thermos in his hands rattled slightly; he scowled at it. "Shut up. No one asked you for your opinion."

He viciously shook it before shoving it back on his belt. He took off slowly in the air.

Danny took a deep, shaky breath and set his jaw determinedly. He took off flying not at his top speed but at a decent five miles per hour. It wasn't fast but he wasn't as far away from Fenton Works as he had originally thought. His little flight through the sewers had covered quite a bit of ground.

"Knowing him," Danny muttered, finding enough energy to turn intangible, "he threw them all in the Ghost Zone. But where?" He landed in front of the portal.

Danny grabbed a table for support as his legs wobbled. Not trusting his own legs, he started hovering, frowning thoughtfully.

"Where would he hide them? Where would _I_ hide them if I were him?" He rubbed his temples trying to put himself in Phantom's tiny boots.

Danny sighed, finding the task harder than he would've figured.

"Okay, first off," he said thoughtfully, "I'm gonna need a mode of transportation. And I know _just_ the thing." Smiling broadly, he floated over to a panel on a wall next to the staircase and punched in a combination. The wall next to it slid open, revealing a Specter Speeder. "Ta-da!" He then frowned, realizing he was effectively talking to himself. "This is weird."

* * *

"This is weird." Danny stared at a doll house in front of the Specter Speeder. It was blocking the path.

The ghost boy shook his head and looked at the scanner. It was insisting that a real world item lay right in front of him. And the thing in front of him was a giant, floating doll house.

"Is this thing defective?" Danny tapped the device. "I _know_ that's not a real world item. No one makes doll houses that big."

"Real world item detected," the scanner intoned. The arrow flashed to the nose of the vehicle, which in turn was pointing to the doll house.

Danny rolled his eyes and adjusted the throttle, gearing up for going around the doll house. He wasn't going to waste time searching fruitlessly for his friends in a place he was sure Phantom would've annihilated on the spot. Heck, _he_ felt like annihilating it and he wasn't even evil!

Cautiously, Danny edged around the house, fiddling with the scanner's programming while he did so and wishing for Tucker's help. Of course, if he couldn't fix the scanner, Tucker would never be found. He tried not to dwell on that fact as he persisted in his efforts. After another twenty seconds, he sighed and gave up trying to program it only to find his friends and family and not point him to random doll houses that were the size of a regular house.

"Stupid thing," he muttered, fixing his eyes on the path before him once more. "Tucker would probably – AAAH!"

He slammed on the brake and screeched to a halt before he smashed into the ghost that had suddenly appeared. The nose phased partially through the ghost's torso.

The ghost – it was a girl – blinked innocently at Danny. She did seem a bit shocked that he has almost run her through, though.

Danny had almost transformed back into a human with the shock and was now trying to catch his breath.

"Ummm, hi?" Danny looked at the pale ghost girl. "Do you mind?"

The ghost had long, stringy blonde hair that was almost white and her skin was pale, extremely pale. Danny examined her green eyes before inspecting her dress. It was a purplish color with frills and lace. He knew instantly that Sam would've kicked up a fuss if she had to wear it; it was too pale.

Danny had to blink tears out of his eyes as he thought of Sam. Would he see her again?

He took a breath and spoke once more. "Excuse me? I, uh, kind of need to go through?"

' _You can phase through her,_ ' a voice in his head suggested.

' _But it's rude,_ ' Danny objected.

' _She's a ghost._ '

' ** _I'm_** _a ghost._ '

' _Half-ghost._ '

' _Almost the same thing,_ ' Danny replied. He sighed then. "Why am I talking to myself?"

The ghost before him smiled; whether at the muttering half-ghost or about something private couldn't be seen.

"Want to play?" she asked, her voice echoing strangely.

Danny jumped and looked up. The ghost girl giggled. Her big, green eyes gazed at him, a small half-smile playing at her pale, pink lips.

"Play with what?" he inquired warily.

"Real world item detected."

Danny glanced down to see the scanner pointing to the ghost before him. He frowned.

"This thing _is_ defective," he muttered, giving the dashboard a small shake before looking back up again.

"Do you want to play dolls?" Her eyes glinted strangely.

Danny sighed, put his hands on the dashboard, and stood up. "Have you seen a group of humans here? I'm looking for them."

The girl giggled again and Danny noticed she was clutching a doll to herself. He scrutinized it, eyes widening when he saw it didn't have a ghostly glow. He looked back to the scanner. So, it wasn't broken after all.

"Do you want to play?" she asked again.

"No," Danny insisted. "I want to find my friends and family. Have you seen them?"

"Come in," she continued as if Danny hadn't spoken.

"I said 'no'," Danny said evenly. "Look, if you can't help me, just say so and I'll be on my way."

He blinked in the next second. The ghost girl had vanished before his very eyes.

Feeling a rush of air next to him, he twisted his head to see the girl's intense green eyes staring into his own. She was frowning slightly.

Danny gave a gasp of surprise, tripped over his chair as he tried to retreat, and fell on his butt, now looking up at the girl in shock. Had she teleported?

"You're scared," she said matter-of-factly, her voice sounding even stranger in the Specter Speeder.

"No. You shocked me," Danny said truthfully.

"Not of me," she said. "Of _him._ "

Danny froze, his mouth open in shock. He swallowed and managed to say, "Why would I be scared of…him?"

She looked slightly amused. "You don't want to change."

"Ch-change into what?"

"But you've already changed," she added.

"N-no, I—"

"You can't stop it," she said. "It's already done."

"B-but that can't—" Danny tried to say.

"If you want to find them," she went on, ignoring Danny, "you know where to look."

"—that can't be – er, what?" Danny jumped from one sentence to the next, gaping at the new turn of the conversation. "How would I know where to look?"

"You do," she answered. Her form started to fade.

"W-wait!" Danny cried. "What did you mean that I can't stop it?"

She continued to fade. "You can't. It's already done." Her voice echoed as she disappeared entirely.

Danny remained on the floor, shell-shocked. Then, he started to shake. He hid his face in his hands and tried to calm down.

Did that mean everything he had gone through was all for naught? Would he, even after everything he had said, still turn into _that_? Did _nothing_ change? He had thought it was over with that fight. Now, with that strange encounter, everything had changed. It looked like there was no hope for him after all. He would, no matter what he tried, still turn into _him_.

Even as these thoughts settled in his head, Danny still knew he had to rescue everybody. He managed to get to his feet, sat in the driver's seat, and flew off.

The house was nowhere in sight. It was as if with the girl's disappearance, the house had disappeared, too.

"What did she mean by that?" he mused, flying aimlessly. " 'You do'?" He groaned. "I'm too stupid for this!"

" _No, you're not_."

Danny again screeched to a halt, utterly shocked. "S-Sam?"

" _Who else?_ "

Danny's eyes flashed around the area behind him but didn't see anyone. "Where are you?"

" _You know, Danny,_ " he heard Sam reply.

"I don't," Danny said helplessly. "Can't you tell me?"

" _You can, Danny. We believe in you._ "

"If you're talking to me, why can't I see you?"

" _Time works in strange ways, Danny._ "

The teen frowned, perplexed. "What do you mean?"

" _Please, Danny_ ," Sam's disembodied voice begged. " _We don't have much time left. Figure it out. I know you can._ "

"Where?" Danny cried again.

" _Please,_ " were her last words.

Danny waited, anxious to hear more but nothing happened. He slumped down in his seat and tried to think.

"Where? _Where?_ " Danny kept repeating this, remembering Phantom's wicked personality as he did so. "If I were him, where would I put them? Think, Fenton, _think_."

He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, thinking. ' _He likes dramatics. He's cruel. He likes to do the same thing – wait._ ' His eyes flew open. "He likes to do the same thing," he whispered with growing realization. "Of _course_!"

Danny throttled the Specter Speeder and floored it, zooming off. "Time. _Time._ 'Time works in strange ways.' I am _so_ stupid."

"Real world item detected."

Impatiently, he turned the annoying thing off and returned to his musings. "They died because of a Nasty Burger explosion before and he tried to recreate it. There's a good chance…" He drifted off into indistinct muttering, still flooring the Speeder.

In another few minutes, he arrived at his destination. Not even bothering to park, Danny flew out of the Speeder and flashed into the tall, clock-like tower. He knew exactly where he wanted to go and made it in record time, barely managing to avoid knocking into the ancient bell there.

"Clockwork?" Danny called anxiously. "Hello?"

Not hearing anything, he landed and approached the viewing mirror. "Now what do I do?" Before he could call again, the screen changed to the time he wanted. He brightened up. "Awesome! Now how'd that happen?"

Shrugging, Danny grabbed a time medallion, put it on, and dove inside, fear and adrenaline pushing him to the limits.

He reappeared on the other side, blurring back into view. Taking a second to absorb his new surroundings, Danny then shot up towards the sky.

"This better not be a mistake," he murmured. "But I don't think it is."

"Don't move, Phantom!"

Danny sighed. "On the other hand, it could be a very _big_ mistake."

"And don't speak either!" the familiar voice added.

Danny, despite the voice's warning, turned around. He waved. "Hey."

The ghost hunter's eyes widened. " _You_!"

"Me," Danny said flippantly. "Long time no see, Valerie."

"You're trying to trick me again, aren't you?" she cried, enraged. Her gun started firing up. "Well, I'm not falling for it, Phantom!" The ten-years-older Valerie Gray glared at him, threatening him with her eyes to deny the accusation.

Danny put up his hands defensively, trying to calm her down. "Whoa, whoa. Val"—he gulped as she gave him a death glare—"uh, you don't remember me, do you?" ' _And do I look like him from behind? He has hair that's in **flames**_.' He scratched his head, muttering, "Is this after we came in or before? It wouldn't surprise me if he messed with it so that I'm here before she met me as I am now. That means I have to fight him all over again and—"

" _Danny_?" Valerie broke into in his muttering.

"Who else?" Danny couldn't repress a grin. She remembered! That meant he had come in after their arrival.

"No way!" Valerie dropped her gun to her side. "I thought that was a dream!"

"As you can see, it wasn't." Danny inclined his head slightly.

"Where's Phantom? The other Phantom? And Sam and Tucker?"

"Phantom is…taken care of." Danny unconsciously grasped his belt. "And I was hoping you could help me with finding Sam and Tucker."

"Where are they?" Valerie demanded.

Danny hesitated shortly. "Well, they could be at the Nasty Burger."

"It's destroyed."

Danny's eyes widened. "Destroyed?"

"Partly anyway," Valerie explained. "I'm surprised the boiler's still intact…"

"Oh crud! I've got to go!" Danny zipped away. "Later!"

"What'd I say?" she called after him, bemused.

' _Please don't let me be too late_ ,' he prayed, flying as fast as he could. He ignored his harsh breathing and kept both eyes on the approaching monument that was by the Nasty Burger.

He was soon in sight of the partially destroyed Nasty Burger and dove down, flying parallel to the ground. His white hair whipped back with the wind as he pushed onwards. His eyes narrowed when he saw something green glint in its depths and he instantly phased through the rubble, arriving in front of the boiler.

"Sam!"

She was plastered to the boiler reminiscent of the earlier. And she wasn't alone. Tucker and his family were also there. Only Jazz and Sam were conscious though.

"Are you all right?" Danny floated straight up to her and tried to pry the gooey substance off. It didn't work.

Sam raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything. She was gagged.

"Sorry. Standard question." Danny tried burning the binds off with ecto-energy but failed miserably. He chanced a glance at the temperature gauge and almost fell out of the air in shock. It was about to explode!

He doubled his efforts. But his hands slipped one time and his momentum carried him back into a wall. Wincing, Danny tried to avoid his girlfriend's and sister's panicked eyes. He looked again at the gauge and blanched. He was almost out of time!

"Hang on," he assured them, trying to sound calm. "This will work." ' _I hope_.'

Digging up his last reserve of energy, Danny called on his ice powers. Biting his lip in concentration, he fired a small beam of ice energy at their bonds and froze them. The next second saw him blasting the ice with an ecto-beam.

To his relief, the ice shattered, freeing them all instantly. Danny grabbed Sam and Jazz and concentrated his telekinesis powers on the others. He had never moved objects with just his mind before and hoped that the adrenaline rush would be enough to give him the extra boost needed.

He had just barely made it past the doors of the Nasty Burger when the boiler exploded. The wind from it threw the group forward and out into the open. Danny dropped the two he was holding shortly before hitting the ground himself. Unlike Sam and Jazz, he skidded several feet before sliding to a halt. Only then did he let loose his mind powers over the others and they all hit the ground.

The adrenaline slowly left him and, exhausted, he transformed back into Danny Fenton. He lay there, panting, and relieved that it was over.

"Danny?" he heard someone ask tentatively. "Are you okay?"

He opened his eyes slightly and glared at the speaker. It was Jazz.

"Sorry." She smiled, relaxing slightly. "Just asking. You look pretty beat up."

"You think?" he managed to say through the daze he felt.

"That's Danny for you." Sam came into view. "Seriously, though, you look really pale."

Danny took a deep breath and attempted to sit up using his elbows. Jazz helped him a bit, seeing how wiped out he was.

"How are they?" he asked, looking at the unconscious trio.

"Tucker's lost some blood," Jazz replied professionally, "and Mom and Dad probably have concussions. But nothing life threatening."

"Oh good." Danny allowed himself a sigh of relief. "Now, how do we get back?"

Sam cocked an eyebrow and dangled something shiny in front of Danny's face. It was Clockwork's medallion.

"Oh right." Danny smiled sheepishly. "How'd you get those?"

"How else are we staying here, rooted in this time period?" Sam answered. "I think your future self nicked them so we'd stay here without interfering in your fight. We take them off and we'll be back in a flash."

Danny took another deep, exhausted breath. "So? What are we waiting for?"

"Waiting to take these off before leaving." Danny turned to see Jazz take the medallions off Tucker, Maddie, and Jack; they vanished. "Ready, little bro?" She grinned at him.

"Just about," Danny said tiredly. He reached up to slip his own medallion off and his whole vision distorted. When his sight readjusted, he saw Sam and Jazz appearing right beside him. The only difference was their surroundings.

"What the—?" Sam muttered, looking around at the clock-filled room.

"Greetings," a deep, mysterious voice greeted them. "I see you have again tangled with time."

The three teens turned to see the ghost.

Danny sighed and leaned on Sam for some support. His legs were a bit too wobbly. "Looks like it's not over yet."


	17. Epilogue

The ghost came into view. It was the master of time. He shifted into a child and smiled at the teens.

"You have some explaining to do," Danny told him.

"Like why you let him out," Sam added.

"All in good time," Clockwork said, morphing into an adult as he said it.

Jazz gaped at him. "You shift forms?"

"Of course, Jasmine," Clockwork said. "For me, time moves forward"—he shifted into an old man—"and backwards"—he morphed into a child—"and—"

"Our questions?" Danny interrupted.

"Yes." Clockwork changed into an adult. "Do ask."

Sam raised an eyebrow. "You're the master of time. Don't you know what we're asking before we even ask it?"

Clockwork sighed. "Of course. But it makes things easier if I just let things play out. So for now"—he waved his staff and the viewing mirror clouded—"assume I'm a normal ghost."

Danny took a breath before saying, "Did you know he'd escape?"

"Yes." Clockwork changed into an old man.

"Then why?"

"It was for the best," Clockwork explained. "If I had just stopped him from escaping, it would have happened again."

"And the Observants let you?" Danny asked incredulously. He remembered what Clockwork had told him last time about the one-eyed ghosts.

"You do remember what I told you last time, correct?" Clockwork became a child.

"You look at time and see all the twists and turns," Danny murmured.

Sam and Jazz shared confused looks. Danny had given Sam a brief summary of his second encounter with the shape-shifting ghost but hadn't gone into details about what they had talked about. This was unexplored territory for the both of them.

Clockwork nodded. "I was placed in responsibility for the both of you and while they were not pleased, they left the choice up to me."

"But what if I had lost? I know I didn't but I could've!" Danny said. "How could you let that happen knowing there was a chance I might lose?"

Clockwork simply smiled and changed into an adult.

Danny sighed and said reluctantly, "You knew I wouldn't."

Clockwork nodded again. "As you said, there was a chance. But, as you can see now, that chance has passed."

"But you endangered us all!" Jazz protested suddenly. "You can't just play with people's lives!"

"I am the master of time," the ancient ghost said. "Playing with lives is what I do."

"But—" Jazz was about to protest when Danny cut her off.

"Enough, Jazz. It's his job." Danny turned to Clockwork. "Still, _why_? You could have stopped him again and again. _Why_ did you just let him go?"

"Time is a mystery to many," Clockwork said, drifting to the viewing screen as an old man. "If something is put away once, won't it come back? And next time?" He shifted form. "While there are many possibilities, oftentimes one stands out most clearly."

"What would that be?" Sam asked.

Clockwork turned around to face them, a child. "You had a choice. Face him or flee. You chose the former as I knew you would."

"And if I had chosen the other?"

"You can answer that for yourself."

Danny paled slightly. "You mean he—?" He didn't finish it.

Clockwork ignored his half-phrased question. "You chose the former. You faced him in battle and caught him once more." He smiled benignly in adult form. "It is time for new beginnings." He held out his hand. "Well?"

Danny sighed. "Right." He concentrated and the rings appeared feebly. He split them enough to grab the thermos and cut it off, releasing his ghost half tiredly.

He dropped it in Clockwork's hands. "Take care of it. Don't let him out again."

Clockwork was a grandfather. "Of course." He smiled. "But you know the answer to that already." Holding the thermos tightly, he gestured with his staff.

"We're not finished," Danny told him.

"Ask." The child Clockwork waited patiently for the question he knew was coming.

"What do I tell everybody?"

Clockwork raised an eyebrow. "They know."

"I mean everybody _else_ ," Danny clarified. "They're expecting some sort of explanation."

"You could've just asked _us_ ," Sam said indignantly.

Danny gave her a look that said, "He _knows_."

Sam rolled her eyes and muttered, "Fine. Leave it to the riddle guy."

"You can answer that best." Clockwork morphed once more. "She will help." He shot Sam a significant look.

"And me?" Jazz put both hands on her hips and raised an eyebrow. "Don't sisters count?"

"And you," Clockwork added. He smiled again, an old man. "Good luck. Everything is as it's supposed to be." He waved his staff. "And your parents and friend as well." The group on the floor vanished.

Sam started. "Where are they?"

"They are in the vehicle your friend used to come here."

"The Specter Speeder?" Jazz looked worriedly at Danny.

He smiled, rubbing the back of his neck while still leaning partway on Sam. "Hey, what can you do if you're tired?"

Danny nodded to Clockwork and gave the thermos a significant look before walking out with Sam's help.

"You can't trust him," Jazz said immediately once they were out of earshot.

"Why not?" Danny said wearily.

"He could turn on you in an instant. What's to say he won't kill you if it's for the better?"

"I know. But he's helped me out before."

Jazz opened her mouth to protest but Danny beat her to it. "Trust me, Jazz. I've been doing this for a while."

"If you say so."

"Now that that's over," Sam said, stopping in front of the vehicle. "Let's go home."

"Let's," Danny agreed, smiling tiredly.

It was only when they had gotten into the Specter Speeder that Danny realized he had forgotten to ask Clockwork about the ghost girl he had encountered. He still felt uncomfortable about what she had said about him but since it was too late to ask Clockwork what she meant, he let it drop and shoved the matter to the back of his head. It was time to enjoy his relaxation.

* * *

"You know his future self is once more your responsibility," one Observant said.

"The boy is as well," the second added.

"I know," Clockwork said, still holding the Fenton Thermos 2.0.

"If he gets out again, he's also your responsibility," the first warned.

"I know." Clockwork smiled, a child. "He won't."

"And what of the recent problems in the Ghost Zone and in the human world?" Observant #2 added. "If this continues, our world will be in danger."

"Everything's fine." Clockwork waved towards the viewing mirror as a responsible adult. "Everything is as it should be."

The viewing mirror was showing various portals opening and closing in the Ghost Zone. A few ghosts would be sucked in now and then when one opened too close and others opened in remote locations with no ghosts nearby.

The screen changed its image to a bustling city. Everything gleamed and people were just walking about, enjoying themselves and life. But there was a dark edge to everything, foreboding something ominous.

It was obscured by clouds then.

"If the problem escalates," Observant #1 was saying, "it will be out of control."

"I know. But then I know everything." Clockwork was a bored old man. "Care to observe the door? I do my job, and you do yours."

"You better know what you're doing, Clockwork," Observant #2 warned, floating through a doorway with his companion.

Clockwork morphed into a small child and said nothing. Instead, he chose to float into an adjoining room and deposited the thermos on a familiar table.

Now an adult, he smiled and uttered two words, "Of course."

* * *

**A few days later…**

"Now that everything's over, aren't you glad to be able to kick back and relax?" Sam smiled at her boyfriend, who was dozing against a tree in Amity Park's park.

Danny jerked awake. "Huh?" He yawned and mumbled, "I agree with Tucker."

Sam laughed teasingly. "You vote for an all meat menu?"

"What? No!" Danny was wide awake. He looked around frantically before seeing nobody other than Sam and relaxed. "Tucker isn't here yet, is he?"

"No." Sam twirled a flower between her fingers. "Catching up on sleep, sleepyhead?"

"Yeah," he replied, stretching. He placed both hands on the ground beside himself. "I've been busy explaining stuff to my folks and talking with reporters about what happened."

"I thought you were over that."

"I can't just leave them in the dark," Danny said. "They need to know why they had to leave on such short and abrupt notice."

"And the ghosts?"

"Are a nightmare." Danny rubbed his temples. "Walker's giving me grief about his prison and the other ghosts simply don't want to settle down."

"Sounds like you have it rough," Sam said sympathetically.

"You got that right!" Someone new sat down besides Danny. "Office's a nightmare!"

"Are they giving you trouble, Tuck?" Danny asked.

Tucker waved a hand dismissively. "It's a bit busy but I'll live."

"Amazing," Sam muttered.

"So, how are things with your folks?" Tucker watched Danny expectantly. "You know, with your future self and all."

"Pretty good actually," Danny answered. "They saw my side of things when I told them how I felt about him and them finding out. You, Sam?"

Sam sighed. "Well, it took a while for them to notice it was a robot."

Danny and Tucker snickered.

"But when they found out, it was pretty nasty. They tried coming back but the shield stopped them."

"That's why it was there," Danny said. "You, Tuck?"

Tucker shrugged. "They found out a bit quicker but kind of understood where I was coming from. Didn't stop them from being mad and grounding me, though." He grinned. "I told them I still have to go to office so they were a bit lenient."

"How's your leg?" Danny asked.

Tucker shuddered. "It's healing. I can't believe you stuffed me in a hospital when we came back!"

"You were still unconscious," Danny defended himself. "And you would've bled to death!"

"Besides, weren't you in a – oh, I don't know – a _modeling_ agency?" Sam smirked.

"Lots of girls. Pretty girls," Tucker said feebly, trying to break out from his hospital nightmare.

Sam rolled her eyes; she turned her attention back to her boyfriend. "What about the damage costs? Are they blaming you about the rubble?"

Danny grimaced. "They're debating. It does help when your friend's the mayor, though."

"Besides, it wasn't his _entire_ fault," Tucker said. "It was partly ours, too, 'cause we fought. I could tell them the sewers were destroyed because of his evil future self but I'd rather not."

"Thanks, Tuck."

"You're welcome! Hey, wait a second. Was that sarcasm?"

"Sure." Danny waved his hands around. "Tell them about my future self. I'm sure they'll love it."

"Don't joke, Danny," Sam warned.

"I know. Tucker could take it the wrong way." Danny smiled at Tucker to show he was joking. "So, are you guys up to seeing a movie? The new _Godzilla_ movie is out."

"Pass." Sam put up her hands.

"Same here," Tucker said. "I've had enough of gore and fighting. And did they seriously make a new one?"

Danny shrugged. "Maybe it's _King Kong_ but it's a new movie. If you guys aren't up to watching a movie, what _do_ you want to do?"

"Relax?" Sam suggested. She lay down right next to Danny and closed her eyes. "That seems like a good idea especially with all the weirdness of the last few days."

"By the way, how _did_ the fight go between you?" Tucker asked, nudging Danny. The ghost boy had just been about to close his eyes.

"We fought," was the simply reply.

"How'd you end up in the sewers?" Tucker prodded.

Danny cracked an eye open. "You know, is it really necessary to say I retreated underground to escape an ecto-blast from the guy?"

"So did your new powers help any?" Sam inquired, opening her purple eyes to gaze at her blue-eyed boyfriend.

"Well…they did," Danny admitted.

"I knew it!" Sam exclaimed, sitting upright. "That training did pay off!"

"They helped but the guy had fire powers," Danny added.

Tucker whistled. "Whoa. When did _that_ happen?"

"According to him, when he merged with Vlad's ghost half his core changed to heat," Danny explained. "That's why his ghost sense was a different color. Mine's blue and feels cold, showing that my core is cold."

"That makes sense," Sam said.

"Is the interrogation over?" Danny closed his eyes again. "'Cause if it is, I'm going to sleep. Fighting out the new rules about rebuilding the prison with Walker has left me beat."

"Shouldn't you? 'Cause technically, it was _you_ destroyed it," Sam said.

Even though the statement stung Danny, he didn't show it. "And technically, it wasn't."

"So we're just sitting around doing nothing?" Tucker asked.

Danny was now lying on his back and had his hands folded behind his head. "Yep."

"Cool. I'll take that after the office." Tucker lay down besides Danny and copied his position.

"So does that mean you'll ignore any and all ghosts?" Sam turned to sit on her knees and stared down at the raven-haired teen lying down before her.

"Why not?"

"Even if it's the Cake Ghost?" Sam suggested idly.

"Why would I get up for that ghost? Doesn't really do that much harm as far as I can tell."

Sam shrugged. "Don't blame me if the ghost just shows up now." She lay down on her side on Danny's left side.

Danny opened his eyes and turned his head to look at Sam's back. "What's _that_ supposed to mean?"

Sam gave a shrug but didn't say anything.

"No, really, what's—" Danny's ghost sense went off, effectively cutting his sentence short. " _Now_ what?"

"I thought you weren't going to fight any ghosts?" Sam correctly interpreted his sigh of disgust as his ghost sense going off.

"I'm not. I'm going to—"

"AAAAGH!"

All three teens jerked upright and looked around for the source of trouble. They soon found it when a group of people sprinted down a path not far from their location being chased by a ghost. And what ghost was this?

"The Cake Ghost," Danny groaned, putting his head on his knees. "Can't it stop giving me grief?"

"Apparently not," Sam commented. "Why don't you let Valerie handle it?"

Danny gave her a look. "What? With her all bandaged up?"

"She can whack it into the Ghost Zone," Sam suggested.

"That's cruel, Sam," Tucker said. "She's not after Danny anymore, you know."

Sam gave him a glare. "Who said I was jealous?"

Tucker whistled innocently. "You just admitted it."

"BWAHAHAHAHA! I AM THE CAKE GHOST! FEAR MY SWEETS!" This was followed by screams as the Cake Ghost presumably bombed them with sweets.

"Going ghost!" Danny transformed into Danny Phantom in a bright flash of light and zoomed off.

"Things back to normal?" Tucker asked, getting up to follow his half-ghost friend.

"Yep. I think so." Sam started off jogging before breaking out into a sprint.

In another few minutes, Danny had sucked in the Cake Ghost to the cheers of the victims. After that, the Box Ghost made an appearance and started ranting on taking over the world with his cardboard fury. It looked like everything was back to normal.

* * *

In the Ghost Zone's far outer reaches, empty ledges and broken down purple doors floated around. There were no ghosts to be seen and everything was bleak. It did seem normal, though, until something unexpected happened.

A portal opened in the middle of it all. It widened briefly, showing nothing but darkness and a pair of mismatched eyes that glowed eerily before closing again, leaving the empty space once more as it was. The only difference was that several ledges and a purple door had disappeared.

Perhaps, everything wasn't as normal as it seemed…


End file.
